Man is curious, by Nature, with a gift for nomenclature
That permitted him, in Eden, to name every living thing.
Driven from that fabled Garden, Man’s soft life began to harden.
Without any hope for pardon, and in fear of everything,
Man was forced to look around him and examine every thing.
And began to name each thing.

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Thus, he named the Rain that wet him, and the Wind unseen that met him,
And the blinding Sun that warmed him every season of the year;
Named the Rocks on which he stumbled, and the Hills down which he tumbled,
And the Darkness where he fumbled in his Helplessness and Fear;
Named the Terror when the blinding flash of Lightning came too near,
With its Thunder in his ear!

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Man, who learned to master Fire, turned his vision even higher,
To the Heavens stretched above him with its Sun, and Moon, and Stars.
Long he struggled to explain them, wondering what could maintain them,
And, what if man dared profane them, could they plague him from afar?
Could the wandering red Planet, that he gave the name of Mars,
Bring him trouble from the Stars?

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Over time such fears developed into Worship that enveloped
And enslaved the minds of many in the Cities of the Past.
For, each aspect of existence that was stubborn in resistance
To Man’s effort and insistence, and which could not be bypassed.
Was then given godly status and revered by men at last,
Who then stubbornly held fast!

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Who the workmen were, impassioned of their gods, who sat and fashioned
From small lumps of clay small statues meant to represent these gods;
Or the men and women gazing at the Stars, who told amazing
Stories in poetic phrasing, of the doings of these gods;
Is beyond our ever knowing, though the stories of these gods
Have survived against all odds.

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