MESOZOIC AGE 
TRIASSIC PERIOD 
THE scene has changed. Much life has had to yield 
To forms that on Creation's fateful field 
Have proved more fit to live, more fit to aid 
The wondrous schemes for Life by Nature laid. 
New lands have risen from the ocean floors ; 5 
Old lands are higher raised, whose temperatures 
Have now less warm become. By slow degrees 
The depths have changed in many lakes and seas : 
And dried lagoons have left their salts behind, 
Which Man, in times to come, will thankful find. 10 
Thus have old Permian forms been forced to meet 
Conditions new ; and whilst some in retreat 
Have safety found ; others have braved the change, 
And some indeed have gained a wider range. 
But rival life, more fitted to the time, 15 
Changes of food supply, and change of clime, 
Have sealed the fate of hosts through land and sea, 
That had, of yore, a wide prosperity. 
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