To replace his pebbles. Though his brain had deepened
To industrial lordship, still no quarter
Did Nature give to idealistic wimps.
The ends we brand utilitarian, pivotal
To survival, like safety and might, preserved
His line, until Homo sapiens could choose.
From the hive of culture not thickness of skins
But quality of thoughts we take. This honey
Was for tea, not breakfast, to sweeten our lot,
Having lost all innocence, as we make our choices
Between instinct and altruism, expediency and morals,
Animality and self-awareness. Bare Adam took the pragmatist's
Part and thought with flint, that sparked
A culture, destined for more fastidious tastes.
Creation grew conscious in Man, lately
Rocketing, culture-fuelled, from the dominion of Nature
To an orbit beyond the self-wrapt and material
Ego. After aeons of wresting from Nature
A meagre existence by the sweat of low brows,
Are we now embracing our common destiny,
Or is the voice from the ends of the earth
Still saying, 'These flints have a fine cutting edge'?