When the dark Book of Earth was darker yet
Lamarck had spelled gigantic secrets out,
And left an easier task for the age to come;
Forgetting more than this; for Darwin’s mind,
Working at ease in Nature, lost its way
In history, and the thoughts of other men.
For him Lamarck had failed, and he misread
His own forerunner’s mind. Blindfold desires
Had never shaped a wing. The grapevine’s need
To cling and climb could thrust no tendrils out.