Cosmos

Ernest McGaffey
COSMOS
By ERNEST McGAFFEY
The Philosopher Press Wausau Wisconsin
COPYRIGHTED 1903 BY ERNEST McGAFFEY
DEDICATED TO CARTER H. HARRISON OF CHICAGO
COSMOS
ONE
I Go search the æons an you will Where withered leaves of Doubt are whirled, And who hath solved this riddle, Life, Or Death—that moves with sails unfurled, Beyond the straining eyes of man Marooned upon an unknown world. II Nor tongue hath told, nor vision caught That paradox, Primeval Cause; Each age has had some parable Each age succeeding marked the flaws; While shifted, with the calendar, What men have termed generic laws. III Creed after creed behold them now Like Etna on Vesuvius piled; Till, scaled to earth by drifting sands They lie in later days reviled, And pushed aside by Time's rough hand As toys are, by a peevish child. IV For Priest-made doctrine reads grotesque. And earthly worship is but dross; Whether it be your Brahm of Ind Or squat and hideous Chinese Joss; Or Jove, aloft on cloud-capped throne Or the pale Christ upon his cross. V Why question still the blindfold graves Or pluck the veil of Isis dread? Over Death's icy mystery A pall immutable is spread; And never tear-wrung agony Shall move the lips we loved—once dead. VI Why grope in labyrinthian maze? Why palter thus with doubt and fear? The Past is but the mollusc print The Future looms, a barrier sheer; The Present centers in To-day The hope for men is Now, and Here. VII Believe no scientific cant That man descended from the ape; Gorilla-like once beat his breast And grew at last to human shape, To watch the flocks, and till the fields, Harry the seas and bruise the grape. VIII For though enrobed in savage skins And though his forehead backward ran, The brute was not all-dominant Some spark revealed a Primal plan; His brain was coupled with his will The hairy mammal still was man. IX And ever as the cycles waned He came and went, he rose and fell, At times transformed, as butterflies That rise from chrysalis in the cell; And oft through hate and ignorance Sunk downward deep as fabled Hell. X But through it all, and with it all How-e'er the upward trending veers, He fought his fight against great odds He peopled ice-bound hemispheres, Endured the sweltering Torrid Zones And stamped his impress on the years.