The Age by Raphael Carter
(Issue 8 ? posted May 16, 1997; archived May 30, 1997)quot;The Age of Mammals" -- so insists this book.
But mollusks beg to differ; more there are
Of them than of our class; and, mammal, look:
There are more bugs than vertebrates, by far.
This is the Age of Protists, as are all
Past ages, and the ones that shall be hence;
Most creatures hedge their bets by staying small,
And so outlive mammalian arrogance.
We're nature's passing fancies, Tinker-towers
She builds to topple; trinkets from a fair,
Soon broken, and not missed much; fading flowers.
Like bubbles children blow of soapy stuff,
With trembling skins, and skeletons of air,
We shine until we burst, and that's enough.
The diatoms shown above are from Ernst Haeckel's (1834-1919) collected drawings, Kunstformen der Nartur. Renowned as one of the foremost early exponents of Darwinism, this biologist-philosopher was better known for his elegant renderings of various life forms.