The Fossil Elephant

The earth is old! Six thousand ears, Are gone since I had birth; In the forests of the olden time, And the solitude’s of earth. We were a race of mighty things; The world was all our own. I dwelt with the Mammoth large and strong, And the giant Mastodon. No ship went over the waters then, No ship with oar or sail; But the wastes of the sea were habited By the Dragon and the Whale. And the Hydra down in the ocean caves Abode, a creature grim; And the scaled Serpents huge and strong Coiled up in the waters dim. The wastes of the world were all our own; A proud, imperial lot! Man had not then dominion given, Or else we knew it not. There was no city on the plain; No fortress on the hill; No mighty men of strength, who came With armies up, to kill. There was no iron then -- no brass -- No silver and no gold; The wealth of the world was in its woods, And its granite mountains old. And we were the kings of all the world We knew its breadth and length; We dwelt in the glory of solitude, And the majesty of strength. But suddenly came an awful change! Wherefore, ask not of me; That it was, my desolate being shews, -- Let that suffice for thee. The Mammoth huge and the Mastodon Were buried beneath the earth; And the Hydra and the Serpents strong, In the caves where they had birth! There is now no place of silence deep, Whether on land or sea; And the Dragons lie in the mountain-rock , As if for eternity! And far in the realms of thawless ice, Beyond each island shore, My brethren lie in the darkness stern To awake to life no more! And not till the last conflicting crash When the world consumes in fire, Will their frozen sepulchres be loosed, And their dreadful doom expire!