Earth in the Zanclean Age of the Pleiocene Epoch, five million years ago (Wikipedia)
“All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does, and that is his.”—
Oscar Wilde,The Importance of Being Earnest
"It is more fortunate [mακάριόν] to give than to receive"—Acts of the Apostles 20:35
Oscar couldn't foresee a future
When men like women might become
For want of more lucky nurture,
Extras in the maternal sum.
He was wrong, too, to anticipate
A parental tragedy lying in wait
For all women in inheritance.
That switch, let's face it, makes no sense!
He, with those coruscating sallies
Made naughty cracks at fools' expense.
Grave idiots, seeking recompense,
Nabbed him by the short and curlies.
Spectators shouldn't tease a snake
That rises up to spit its venom.
Idiots are always on the make.
Their law looks out for Number One.
Scientists sequence DNA
From ancient sedimentary samples.*
What archaic dirt has to say
Sheds fresh light on new examples.
We humans need to comprehend
That what drives us round the bend
Serves socially to elucidate
Women's tragedy, and man's fate.
The secret path of where we’ve been
Leads to a private Pleiocene,
And shows us, surely, where we’re bound
If we don't heal our mother’s wound.
Envoi
If you do or if you don't,
If you will or if you won't,
That's the eventual shape of things—
The dirge the Anthropocene sings.
Notes
*On extracting mitochondrial DNA from dirt, see, e.g., https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/hunt-for-the-oldest-dna/
The term "Pleiocene" derives from the Greek πλεῖον (pleion, “more”) and καινός (kainos, “new, recent”), but it was 300 to 500 million years ago—the last time the world got much, much hotter.
Our word "idiot" comes from the Greek noun ἰδιώτης (idiōtēs), meaning originally a selfish individual who contributed nothing to the public needs of the polis.
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