Primal pioneer of pliocene formation,
Hid in lowest drifts below the earliest stratum
Of volcanic tufa!
“Older than the beasts, the oldest Palæotherium;
Older than the trees, the oldest Cryptogami;
Older than the hills, those infantile eruptions
Of earth’s epidermis!
“Eo—Mio—Plio—Whatsoe’er the ’cene’ was
That those vacant sockets filled with awe and wonder—
Whether shores Devonian or Silurian beaches—