Let us frankly face the prospect
That man's progress here may fail;
That the race may never triumph,
But again descend the scale,
Till the last surviving savage
To his glacial cave retires,
And earth's tragic drama closes,
As humanity expires!
And why not? All weaker species
To the stronger yield their place;
May the same law not be needed
Through the boundless realms of space?
By whatever beings peopled,
Worlds that fail to meet the test
May like fruitless blossoms perish;
God will winnow out the best.
Would you know our planet's value?
View the star-strewn dome of night!
In that shoreless sea of splendor
What is one faint wave of light?
Worlds by millions are revolving
Through that vast, unfathomed main;
Should our tiny orb make shipwreck,
Worlds by millions would remain;
Where perchance a real advancement
May prevail from pole to pole,
Without losses, without lapses,
Toward a final, perfect goal.
This at least can not be doubted,—
That our globe will one day roll
Cold and lifeless thro' its orbit,
Like a corpse without its soul.
Will mankind have reached perfection
Ere that epoch has begun,
Or grown bestial, as the heat-waves
Issue feebly from the sun?
None may know. Through blood-stained cycles
We have thus far made our way:
Of the unknown depths beneath us
We are nothing but the spray.