Odyssey From Africa 14f

Odyssey from Africa 14f This colossal ratite was the Largest bird on all the planet It would live on Madagascar Till the time of William Shakespeare “Let me tell you” said the monarch Quietly pleased at Han’s reaction “What I find to be most curious, Something hinting at a mystery “Of the many birds and creatures Which inhabit our great island Very few can be encountered Living on the westward mainland “All the lemurs of the forest And the savage golden fossa Massive towering baobab trees and Spiny forests of our dry-lands “All appear to be exclusive to our lonely Island Kingdom Different from their mainland cousins Like the starry yellow orchid “Like our purple periwinkle With its gentle star-like calyx Fishes of our lakes and rivers And a host of birds and beetles. “Could it be that isolation On this ocean-circled island Moulded life by adaptations Suited to our island living? “So that life forms are not constant But can slowly grow divergent Over countless generations? This would be a thing most wondrous! “Furthermore, our scholars tell me That our island’s western shoreline In its colours, forms and textures Bears a very close resemblance “To the rocky coastal hillsides Over on the western mainland Whispering to us a mystery: Did an ancient hand of heaven “With a vast titanic strength once Rend our country from the mainland? Pull this isle across the sea To exile at the edge of sunrise?” In the counter facing section Of the great museum hallway There were several rows of tables And by some of these were seated Scholars who examined closely Specimens in trays or bottles Kept in clear preserving spirits Alcohol from distillation At one table several scholars Carefully worked with tools of metal Chipping rocks and slabs of limestone To uncover forms of creatures Fossil prints within the rocks of Animals and plants so ancient That no human ever saw them Windows on forgotten ages But King Ptolemy now beckoned Han toward another table Where there sat a girl apprentice Her first season as a scholar She examined twigs and branches That were piled up on her table Working to identify them Writing symbols onto fabric Now and then she left her table Walking over to the cabinets To compare one of her samples With a reference on exhibit Then the king picked up one twiglet That was smooth and pale in colour It had washed up on the shoreline Having long been in the ocean