95. The Victorian Age

Africa, the overlooked continent
Was explored and colonized.
Europe crawled out of the dust of revolution.
Taking over the world like infesting ants.
The new nation of America wanted some of their own.
Yet they were no match for Great Britain’s might.
Britain took many lands for himself.
India, Africa, North America, Central and South America, Australia, The Middle East.
All given over to the crown.
Each soldier planting their bloody flag into new territory.
Victoria became queen bringing the world to her.
Proclaiming herself India’s Empress
As Disraeli crowned her.
At home, while fossils were contemplated,
People enjoyed the new “Oriental things”
That were brought to them.
Men from India assimilated
As Tennyson welcomed his new British brothers
Rejoicing in one voice,
“Britain hold your own.”
They thought the sun would never set on their mighty empire.
In the coming years
They will see that they were wrong.

86. The Age of Discovery and Conquest

Columbus had an idea.

“I want to sail west to get to the east.”

No one would listen.

“You’re crazy,” they said.

“The world’s too big.”

He went to Spain.

They gave him ships.

He sailed west.

Bumped into a new continent.

Soon others did too.

Spain and Portugal explored that world

Hoping to find riches.

What they found was new land to fight over.

The pope settled the dispute by splitting the new world in two

As if he had that right to do.

Slaves were made of Africans.

The natives of America were killed.

Cortez, the conqueror, ruined many lives in Mexico.

The Aztecs,

Descendants of peoples who crossed the ancient Ice Age land bridge.

Descendants of the Olmecs.

Advanced in math and astronomy.

The great pyramid builders of the new world

Perished because of Spanish quests

For Gold, God and Glory and the new plagues they brought.

They returned the favor

With diseases of their own.

After Spain, other countries moved out.

The Dutch went for profits.

The British claimed their piece in North America.

North America should be watched.

New things are brewing there.

28. The Paleolithic

Animals still ruled this new Eden.
They towered high
Proudly walking among tall savannah grasses
Surveying all they owned.
They lived comfortably on their throne
Lording over the smaller, weaker primates.
As they grazed on the tops of trees
The dreaded saber tooth
Stealthily hunted in the yellow sea of African grass.
Man was still the lowest on the food-chain
But he became a fierce competitor.
They lived in fear of the shadows among the golden points
Firmly grasping their stony blades
As they hunted the wild beasts.
Huddling together in their small groups,
Humanity tried to survive.
The welcoming trees that offered protection were long gone.
As the ice slowly moved down from the north
Grinding into the mountains.
Man began to move.
They left the warm womb of Africa and spread across the world.
Invading Asia.
Invading Australia.
Invading Europe.
Invading North and South America.
Mammoths put on woolly coats
Their coats would be no match for the pointed stones and red flower of man.
The mammoth fell.
Man became the extinction event.
They chased the mighty bear from his caves.
Then, to mark their territory,
They painted on the walls.
With the handprint as their symbol of defiance,
A spear that pierced the painted animal,
Man claimed the world as their own.

24. The Catastrophe

The gardener of the sky looked down at his creations.

He decided that he was finished with these lizards.

He was tired of them lording over the smaller animals.

He needed to prune the overgrowth back.

So he pointed down at North America.

A star fell from the sky.

Slamming into the earth.

Destruction rained down on the once mighty reptiles.

Shock waves ripped through the crust.

Burning dust and rock flew up into the atmosphere,

Rained back down,

As tsunamis stirred the oceans.

Volcanic and cosmic ash filled the skies

Blocking the sun.

The saurian empire fell.

With the last rays of light.

The cold grip of death

Slowly

Took

Hold

In the darkened world.