Darwin's grandeur

The phenomenon of life abounds in wonders,

But yet more wondrous is the origin of life

In all its diverse forms, extant or gone extinct,

Which call for explanation of their provenance.

One titan thinker gathered evidence enough

To justify a plausible account of how

From simple forms proliferations vast can grow.

Like Mendeleyev leaving gaps to be confirmed

Where elements as yet unknown would find their place,

So Darwin necessarily could not supply

The clinching evidence, the proof of fossil finds -

So large an undertaking needed breadth of mind

To fashion bridges strong enough to carry freight

Whose value in the world of science topped all else

In winning over skeptics to the pregnant theme

Of natural selection in an endless flow -

A concept so profound that Darwin could reveal

The well of life, the fount of its unending birth.

How grand of Darwin, and how grand what he had found -

A way for Earth to populate her seas, her lands, her air,

While yet the rock of ages suffers its decay

To form new soil from which descendants, in their turn,

Will come to life, and flourish and again mutate

In endless repetition as each change takes place.

Such is the grandeur of a vision angled wide,

Whose coming lot is fated as the stars portend,

For after eons in which life holds fast

The very cosmos must endure its end,

Or life itself take charge and mold what will endure.