OLGA
SCENE I
Dimitri and Olga his pupil
Dim. Now, Olga, I have led thee round the world,
From North to South, from East to West, and then
Back through the ages, past th' extremest bound
Of history—step by step have tracked the race
Of man to his mysterious gradual birth
Out of the ruder life—aye, further still,
Through the half-made wild world of desolate flood,
And forest and perpetual dream-change up
To the dumb, formless matter wherein first
Unconscious life lay cradled. We have stood
Together and surveyed as from a height
The gathering swarms stream o'er the waste of earth,
Scatter and spread, re-form, hunt, fight, hew down
The forests, build, found cities (clustered lights
Starring the darkness of the Asian plain,
From North to South, from East to West, and then
Back through the ages, past th' extremest bound
Of history—step by step have tracked the race
Of man to his mysterious gradual birth
Out of the ruder life—aye, further still,
Through the half-made wild world of desolate flood,
And forest and perpetual dream-change up
To the dumb, formless matter wherein first
Unconscious life lay cradled. We have stood
Together and surveyed as from a height
The gathering swarms stream o'er the waste of earth,
Scatter and spread, re-form, hunt, fight, hew down
The forests, build, found cities (clustered lights
Starring the darkness of the Asian plain,
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