Page:The ascent of man by Blind, Mathilde.djvu/20

 Ribbed and ravaged and rent there rose bald peaks
 * and the rocky

Heights of confederate mountains compelling the
 * fugitive vapours

To take a form as they passed them and float as
 * clouds through the azure.

Mountains, the broad-bosomed mothers of torrents
 * and rivers perennial,

Feeding the rivers and plains with patient
 * persistence, till slowly,

In the swift passage of æons recorded in stone by
 * Time's graver,

There germ grey films of the lichen and mosses
 * and palm-ferns gigantic,

And jungle of tropical forest fantastical branches
 * entwining,

And limitless deserts of sand and wildernesses
 * primeval.