The Caveman on the Train

When first the apprizing eye and tongue that muttered (Banished from Eden’s air? Or pride of apes?) Sat clinking flint on flint, as they shattered Snatched with a grin what fell in craftier shapes, The law was move or die. Lively from tigers; Dainty on deer. As weather called the tune. Oxen, we learned, would bear us. So would rivers. And that was science. On the whole a boon. What caveman on a round rock dumped a-grunting Rubbed at a rueful hip, brow darkening why? Or gaped at boulders over gravel shifting Until—a splendor of wheel-thought like sunrise! No wonder: such example in a heaven Revving immaculate gears, and at his feet The planet on her axle greased and even. Put any wheel to earth, and two wheels meet. Athens cut ruts of marble; ivory courses Caromed Apollo’s car of talkative gold. And Donne saw wagon-ways. The horsepower: horse Over the flats of Kansas sail-cars rolled. First planks on querulous ground, then treads of met Steel set edgewise, over stone for ties. A mountain? Sawtooth rail or crank-and-cable Till iron took serene the incredulous rise. Compleat with a nifty moniker,Puffing Billy, Best Friend of Charleston, Wabash Cannonball, Cycloped