Great Paraxus was blessed one day
By Hecate, who showed the way.
The Hexenmaiden, wise and deep,
Gave gifts that he would always keep.
A Hex she cast upon his line,
A Hox of power so divine.
The Homeobox, that sacred tool
Would be bilateral symmetry's rule.
"Look here," fair Hecate declared,
"Direction shall be yours to share.
No more shall creatures drift around
Without a plan of what they've found."
In Pennsylvania's sacred land,
Her daughters work with skillful hand.
They make Hox signs to mark the way
Of bilateral order's day.
On buildings they inscribe the sign
To bring the cosmic plan divine.
In homes and temples we still see
These marks of their legacy.
With Homeobox to guide their path,
Great Paraxus escaped the wrath
Of chaos and disorder wild,
Like any well-directed child.
Their city pointed toward the sacred east,
To Jehovah's eternal feast.
To Mithra's all-knowing eye,
To Elohim beneath the sky.
The currents caught their city true,
As bilateral patterns grew.
Life found direction for the first time,
In Paraxus' ancient rhyme.
In youth he lived a nomad's way,
Swimming through the waves all day.
But in his age he crawled the floor
To graze the sea's abundant store.
The greens that carpeted the deep,
The riches Davy Jones would keep,
All became his sustenance
In bilateral abundance.
From Paraxus came three sons
When his great work was done:
Bold Bilateron the true,
Cnider with his mouths so new,
And Placus, simple through and through.
Now Cnider built a wondrous form,
To weather every storm.
From each lobe of his body wide
He made a mouth on either side.
Through these portals he would feed,
Catching fish to meet his need.
His radial symmetry
Brought him prosperity.
But Placus chose the simple way,
And keeps it to this day.
His body stayed so plain and small,
The simplest of them all.
The only cells that bear his name
Live on in Placus' fame.
Though humble, they survive
And keep his line alive.
But Bilateron chose the path
Of greatness and its aftermath.
He crawled along the ocean floor
Seeking prey both rich and more.
"I need to see," Bilateron said,
"To hunt for daily bread.
Observatories I shall build
With priesthood skilled."
The astrologers came round
And built two pits in sacred ground.
They gazed up at the starry host
To learn what mattered most.
With Lord Carotenus' blessing bright
And PAX6's sacred rite,
They built the very first true eyes
To see beneath the skies.
These organs of the light
Gave Bilateron sight.
No more would he hunt blind
With only touch to find.
Fair Vendia became his bride,
And stayed there by his side.
Together they bore children two:
Great Coelomus and Xenus true.
The sons of Xenus held the line
Of traditions so divine.
To this day they keep the way
Of their ancestral stay.
Among great Xenus' noble race
Was Roscoff, who found his place
When he wed Tetraselma fair,
An algae beyond compare.
Together they became the pair
Who founded lineages rare.
The Roscoff worms today
Still follow their ancient way.
Millions swim in the sea
In their algal harmony.
The farmer and his bride
Still swim there side by side.
But Coelomus chose a different course,
He built with greater force.
His stomach sent so deep it went
Right through his whole extent.
It came out the other side
And became his pride:
The anus, new and strange,
A revolutionary change.
From mesoglea to mesoderm,
With cavities so firm,
He built himself a coelom wide
With room for organs inside.
His kidneys and nephridia
Filled this new area.
From ectoderm he brought
The neural net he taught.
A telegraph network grand
Connected every part of his land.
Each citizen was tied
To the network far and wide.
Fair Kimberella became his queen,
The fairest ever seen.
Together they bore Nephrus,
Strong and prosperous.
Now Nephrus built throughout his frame
Small kidneys to his name.
Across his body they were spread
To keep his systems fed.
Sweet Ikaria became his wife,
The love of all his life.
Together they bore Cambrius,
Bold and glorious.
Great Cambrius saw the need
For a more complex deed.
He segmented his form
To weather every storm.
In countless repeating parts
He built his many hearts.
Each segment had its own
Sophisticated bone.
Scaffolding so complex and true
Made his body new.
Each part could beat alone
Yet work as one full zone.
Between each segment pair
A heart pumped everywhere.
The circulation flowed
Along each segment's road.
From this great innovation came
The bilateral kingdom's fame.
Segmentation's art
Gave animals their start.
No longer simple balls of cells
Or asymmetric shells,
But bodies with a plan
Both complex and grand.
The Hox genes showed the way
That animals display
Their body patterns true
In everything they do.
From head to tail arranged,
Their fates were exchanged
By Homeobox control
That made each creature whole.
So honor fair Hecate,
Who brought this mystery.
Her Hex upon the line
Made bilateral design.
And praise brave Paraxus,
Who was so glorious.
His bilateral symmetry
Changed all biology.
From Cnider's radial form
To Cambrius' segmented norm,
Each path showed different ways
To spend their living days.
But Bilateron's line would grow
To all we love and know.
The bilateral body plan
Gave birth to beast and man.
In every eye that sees,
In every heart that flees
Through arteries and veins,
Cambrius' pattern reigns.
The coelom's inner space
Gave organs their place.
The nephridia's art
Gave kidneys their start.
From simple to complex,
Through Hecate's hex,
The animals arose
In bilateral rows.
So when you see your face
Reflect its bilateral grace,
Remember Paraxus true
Who made that plan for you.