VERY GRADUAL CHANGE (for Darwin Day, 2023)

 

Last night I had a vision, as real as real could be,

The ghost of Charley Darwin and he said this to me.

“The origin of species since earthly life began

Results from tiny changes from cells on up to Man.”

 

Chorus:

It’s very gradual change, (first microbes ruled,)

Very gradual change,(genomes retooled.)

Evolution makes revolution through very gradual change.

 

So I said, “Specter, tell me.  Am I some monkey’s son?”

He answered, “No, you’re cousins.  That’s why you look like one.

The simians and humans ten million years ago,

Both had a common grandpa; our genomes tell us so.”

Chorus:

It’s very gradual change, (start with a fin,)

Very gradual change, (our limbs begin.)

New instructions make new constructions through very gradual change.

 

“All mammals come from fishes, the further back you look.

You’ll find we’re all related.  It’s right there in my book.

We’ve traced our trail through fossils and DNA ‘til now.

They show we share ancestors with fish and with a cow.”

 

Chorus:

It’s very gradual change, (first just a cell,)

Very gradual change, (to us as well.)

Variation makes speciation through very gradual change.

 

Then as the ghost departed and I woke from my snooze,

He told me, “I’ve just started.  Now you go spread the news.”

 

Stephen Baird, June, 2009, revised 2023.