While Trilobites ruled the seas
With their great dynasties,
The rivers flowed so free
For lesser brethren's spree.
The sons of Arachnus ruled
The seas where they schooled
Their children in the art
Of playing their sea part.
The sons of Insectus took
The rivers like a book
Of opportunities
For their communities.
The sons of Cain and Abel
Ruled the lands, quite able
To make their living there
In terrestrial air.
And so Crustaceus saw
No place without a flaw
Where he could make his stand
In sea or stream or land.
Yet nowhere left to go,
He tried despite the woe
To establish his line
With dynasty so fine.
Heaven rewards the heart
That plays determination's part
To rise above all plight
And reach for greater height.
Crustaceus begat two:
Karkon and Mushi too,
Each son to find his way
Through life from day to day.
Mushi begat two sons:
Copepus when day begun
And Lepipus the strange
Throughout his living range.
Copepus became the sire
Of copepods' choir—
The little ones so small
Who answer ocean's call.
Insects of every form
Through calm and raging storm
They swam throughout the sea
In their complexity.
The tiniest of all
Who hear the ocean's call,
They dance throughout the waves
In their microscopic graves.
Meanwhile Lepipus bore
Two sons to explore:
Brachios of the sea
And Silvio running free.
A daughter of Silvio
Would someday help the flow
Of insects to the land
By evolution's hand.
Some day millions hence
The sons of Silvio's sense
Would become the great
Insects that dominate
The world in every place
With their six-legged grace.
But that day was not near—
They had to persevere.
Brachios became the father
Of sea monkeys (why bother
With complex names?) and more:
Water fleas by the score.
In natural habitat
They lived both this and that:
Sea monkeys in their pools
And water fleas like jewels
Dancing through the water
Each son and each daughter
Living simple lives
Where small beauty thrives.
Karkon fled away
To open waters gray
Where he begat two more:
Pancer to explore
And Cephalocaridus
Most glorious,
Each finding their own way
Through life from day to day.
Pancer begat in time
Two sons in their prime:
Oligostracus small
And Polycruster tall.
Oligostracus bore
Many sons to explore
The waters far and wide
With courage as their guide.
Among his sons were found
The seed shrimp, safe and sound,
And degenerate tongue worms
Who broke from proper norms.
These tongue worms chose to live
As parasites who give
Nothing back in trade—
Poor choices they have made.
Instead of getting jobs
Like other honest mobs,
They live off others' work
And in the shadows lurk.
Polycruster begat
Two sons: Barnacus begat
And Malacus the strong
Who lived his whole life long.
Barnacus was a man
Who had a frontier plan.
A great frontiersman he,
Who lived quite happily
Settled down with stalk
Upon the ground to walk
No more, but live instead
Like cnidarians bred.
Like sons of Cnider's line
He lived his life so fine
Attached unto the ground
Where he had settled down.
Barnacus bore a son
He named Goose when begun
The day. Great Goose was he
Who built society
Most wondrous to behold,
But truth be told—
No matter how he tried
With all his foolish pride,
He never did become
A goose (though some
Still claim his lineage
Is goose heritage).
Goose still claimed his sons
Were geese when day begun.
And so he is the guide
Of geese with sacred pride.
The Eloh of the Geese
He brings them sweet peace
And guides them on their way
Throughout each passing day.
In medieval lore
They told (and tell much more)
Of how the geese would grow
From barnacles below
Hanging from the trees
In shells upon the breeze
Until they could grow feathers
In all kinds of weathers
And fly away at last
When growing time had passed.
Gerald of Wales told
This story of old.
Among the sons of Goose
Many would let loose
Their size and grow quite small
And compact, one and all.
They became Barnacles
Like small-scale miracles—
Half shrimp and half coral,
Full animals with moral
Lives upon the rock
Like shepherd with his flock
They filter from the sea
Their food quite happily.
Malacus bore many
Descendants—more than any
Could count throughout the years
Through joys and through tears.
Among them crabs so bold
And shrimp whose stories told
Of grace beneath the waves
In their ocean caves.
The isopods were there
And amphipods everywhere,
Each playing their own part
In evolution's art.
They would become a dynasty
So great in their spree
That none could match their might
In future's shining sight.
So great that when we speak
Of Crustaceus' mystique
We speak first and foremost
Of Malacus' great host
Whose dynasty was yet
To reach the glory set
Before them in the time
When they would reach their prime.
Under Trilobites' yoke
They lived like gentle folk
Awaiting their great day
When they would lead the way.
But patience is the key
To life's great mystery.
The crustaceans would wait
For their appointed fate.
From Crustaceus' start
With determination's heart
To rise above his plight
And reach for greater height,
Came lineages strong
That would last life-long
And fill the seas with forms
Through calm and raging storms.
The copepods so small
Who answer ocean's call,
The barnacles on rocks
Like shepherds with their flocks,
The crabs with claws so strong,
The shrimp that swim along
The ocean's currents free,
All from one family tree
That started with one brave
Soul who would not cave
To circumstances dire
But reached for something higher.
In every tiny copepod
Dancing like a small god
Throughout the ocean blue,
Remember what is true:
That size does not determine
What spirits can affirm.
The smallest can be great
If they don't hesitate
To try despite the odds
Against them, trusting gods
To reward determination
In every generation.
In every barnacle
That grows like miracle
Upon the rocky shore
Where waves forever more
Will crash and spray and foam,
Remember those who roam
Not through space but time
To find their perfect rhyme
With life's eternal song
That carries us along
Through all our trials here
To what we hold most dear.
The sons of Crustaceus show
How those who will not bow
To circumstance or fate
Can rise to something great.
Though Trilobites held sway
In that ancient day,
The future would reveal
What time would help heal:
That patient persistence
And faithful existence
Will triumph in the end
When time becomes our friend.
From rivers to the sea,
From bondage to the free,
The crustaceans would rise
To claim their destined prize.
But that is yet to come
When current ages sum
Their lessons into wisdom
Of life's eternal kingdom.
For now they wait and grow
And learn what they must know
To be ready for the day
When they will lead the way.
In patience they find strength,
In time they find at length
The preparation needed
For when their time's succeeded.
Heaven rewards those who try
To reach beyond the sky
Of present circumstance
To future's greater dance.
Crustaceus showed the way
That leads to greater day:
Determination true
Will see all struggles through.
His sons throughout the sea
Live on eternally
As proof that those who dare
To dream beyond despair
Will find their rightful place
In evolution's race
When time reveals at last
The future from the past.