CRETACEOUS PERIOD 
And fuel making of the forest trees, 
Will set alight ore-smelting furnaces. 
But this great lake, with all its varied stores, 
Is doomed to go, as sink its bed and shores ; 50 
And as through Francia's sinking north domain 
The Midland waters find their way again. 
On to the lake they press with eager pace, 
As might a lover to his fair's embrace, 
Till the great sea, all barriers overrun, 55 
Seizes the destined prize ; and they are one. 
Woe to freshwater life that cannot bear 
The changed conditions that have sprung up here : 
Not only waters fresh with brine are charged, 
But the great scope of sea-life is enlarged : 60 
And on the scene great sharky forms appear, 
And other raiding hordes from far and near. 
Truly have " tears to drink " been given here. 
But so it is, all life is as a loan, 
Nor fish, nor flesh, nor fowl can call its own. 65 
But not the Wealden lake, large though it be, 
Is all that sinking Britain yields the sea. 
A Baltic sea, wasting Germania's realm, 
Is pressing west more land to overwhelm. 
And slow across East Anglian lands it creeps, 70 
Then, bending south, o'er sinking plains it sweeps, 
79 
