Rose, blindly groping, and with armoured hands

Tore down the trees to reach their tender crests

And strip them of their more delicious green.

I saw him pondering on the secret bond

Between the living creatures that he found

On the main coast, and those on lonely isles;

Forms that diverged, and yet were closely akin.

One key, one only, unlocked the mystery there.

Unless God made, for every separate isle

As it arose, new tribes of plants, birds, beasts,