CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD 
Choking the forests in their watery beds, 
And slow amassing o'er their highest heads ; 
And Land thus ceaseless labours to replace 
The sylvan scenes within the sea's embrace, 
No longer with subsidence keeps she pace. 1 80 
And shrubs and trees as deep they lie entombed, 
Compressed with growths that had before succumbed, 
Will turn, through chemic action long at play, 
To seams and beds of coal we burn to-day. 
Some higher life-forms, sprung from finny ranks, 185 
Climb here and there upon the marshy banks : 
Amphibious creatures, helped by Nature's hand, 
Alike to swim the flood, and move on land. 
(And well may Life in such new forms arise, 
Amid the land and sea complexities.) 190 
Small Newt-like looking beings are now ashore, 
Moving with awkward gait, and striking awe 
Through insect life. Whilst some with limbs more strong 
Far through the forests push their way along. 
Others there are, in form resembling snakes, 195 
That limbless creep through mud, and shore-side brakes. 
Have some mud-fish-like forms of bygone days 
The double breathers undergone some phase ? 
And learned to creep from watery beds left dry 
To haunt the banks, and boggy plains close by ? 200 
Have now their fins to foot-work been slow forced, 
Or, through disuse, been well nigh wholly lost ? 
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