Page:The ascent of man by Blind, Mathilde.djvu/100

 For each feathery, velvet-tufted anther
 * Lay in ambush waiting for its prey.

Tiniest jewelled fish that flashed like lightning,
 * Blindly drawn, came darting through the wave.

When, a stifling sack above them tightening,
 * Closed the ocean-blossom's living grave.

Now we fared through forest glooms primeval
 * Through whose leaves the light but rarely shone,

Where the buttressed tree-trunks looked coeval
 * With the time-worn, ocean-fretted stone;

Where, from stem to stem their tendrils looping,
 * Coiled the lithe lianas fold on fold,

Or, in cataracts of verdure drooping,
 * From on high their billowy leafage rolled.

Where beneath the dusky woodland cover,
 * While the noon-hush holds all living things,