AN INTERGLACIAL EPOCH 
TRUCE now to ice, that through long years had lain. 
Hail softer airs, that pledge " old times " again ! 
Europa, freed at last from monstrous ice, 
With promise looms, " an opening paradise." 
But long indeed must be her breathing space, 5 
Ere she can wear again a smiling face. 
For changed she is, awakened from her sleep, 
And where of late were glaciers wont to creep, 
Torrential streams, like vandal hordes let loose, 
Or floods by forced or overridden sluice, 10 
Are rushing down her vales ; and on they sweep 
With muddy freights, a tribute to the deep. 
Great blocks of stone on rugged slope and tor 
Attest the volumed glacier, there of yore. 
Smoothed lies the land, and rounded far and wide, 1 5 
And scratched and scarred, where glaciers rolled in pride. 
And numerous lakes are here to tell the tale 
Of ice that long had held plain, hill, and dale. 
Poor footing yet can vegetation gain, 
Where ice so long and heavily had lain. 20 
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