IN ANCIENT CLAY

In clay from ancient times,
our tread has deepened, faded,
graded its declines, those patterns of our gait
translate the size and height, our stance.

We rise to walk upright,
seize weapons of the hand and mind,
our troubles multiply,
our brains try hard to understand.

Have we, do we e'er progress?
We think it so; we know;
and still we make the same mistakes
that man made eons ago.