Lower he went into the valley. No sun shone here, nor ever had glanced between the woven branches. Trees struggled up for light, losing their tops in mist. Silent needles fell on distant earth. Rain filled the air and a bird's song hung in the stillness.
Phyllis King
I want to be a Darwin when I grow up, a Charles Robert Darwin. I want to go to sea in a ship called the Beagle before I'm twenty three.
I'll go to the Rio Plate and drink a tea called Mate. There's nothing will by-pass me from Tierra del Fuego to the isles of Galapago.
I'll go about the land with my hammer in my hand, and I'll put things in my sack to examine when I'm back.
And when I'm done with South America, I'll sail across to far Australia. I'll have a look at farmers and thieves and determine the growth of coral reefs.
When at last my journey's done and I'm back again under English sun, I'll sit me down and write a book about the voyages I took.
And then I'll stop and have a think for years about the missing link. And when Tahiti is but a dream, and nothing is as it seems, I'll write a very lengthy treatise and call it the 'Origin of Species'.
Phyllis King