MIOCENE PERIOD 
Remain to-day, and grimly testify 
The mighty havoc wrought in days gone by. 
A genial clime still fills Europa's zone, 
And little change has plant life undergone. 50 
Indeed though now and then some waves of cold 
Had swept from far north realms in days of old, 
A genial clime for most part had embraced 
The wide wide world, through all life-periods past. 
And now in Miocene times, on arctic land, 55 
Where ice and snow to-day hold wide command, 
Are beeches, oaks and walnuts spreading far, 
And limes and elms and soft magnolia. 
But to Europa changes come in time, 
And cooler airs sweep oft her genial clime. 60 
No longer now can palms retain their place ; 
But grasses, reeds, and sedges grow apace ; 
And trees deciduous greet the bracing air, 
As breath from friends on native heaths afar. 
Marsupials here no longer now abound ; 65 
Though in the woods opossums still are found ; 
Indeed the " pouchy " groups seem disappearing, 
From all haunts here, as though disasters fearing. 
Nor yet, in time, in Asia will they live, 
And Afric's land will no asylum give ; 70 
But live they will, and Austral regions far 
Will long befriend them, and America. 
'37 
