NEBULA TO MAN 
Pursue with stalky eyes their hungry way, 
Seeking small mollusk and crustacean prey ; 
And rhizopods, in tiny latticed tests, 75 
Oft fall as victims in their glutton feasts. 
(Are these fierce Nautiloids, that wander wide, 
Some primal worms to new forms modified ?) 
Strangely are Life and Death close mingled here, 
As all around the strain grows more severe. 80 
For not a creature lives beneath the sun 
But has some dangers every day to run. 
Still life is pleasant, be it short or long, 
Alike to small and great, to weak and strong. 
Thus through the brine life manifold proceeds, 85 
Impelled to higher states by growing needs. 
And all these early life-types in the seas 
Will branch in time to many species ; 
And some, amid conditions too severe, 
Must, after stress and struggle, disappear. 90 
And when a species falls from Life's domain 
It never gains a place on Earth again. 
