# Chapter 57: The Vertebrate Houses
This is the book that tells of generations blessed
And lineages of Janus glorious and bright,
Of how three houses came to rule and rest
As pillars in evolution's sacred sight.
Janusicthus begat two sons of fame:
First Kondricthus, noble, strong, and true,
And bright {{c|453|Osticthus}}, bearer of the name
Of those who'd find their home in waters blue.
As they lived beneath the ocean's foam
Their waters came to be a toxic waste,
Suffocating, wild—no place for home
Where any child could grow with gentle grace.
One day they prayed with all their faithful might
To great Elohim's everlasting sight
For some solution to their bitter plight,
An offering to make their future bright.
One hundred trilobites they sacrificed
And gave them to the heaven's shining lights,
Then waited for reply beneath the Christ
Of stars that blessed their prayer throughout the nights.
And great Elohim spoke to faithful men:
"I shall grant to one of you this day
A gift both strange and true beyond your ken:
The sight to see the stars' eternal ray
Beyond all earthly barriers and walls,
And to the other I will surely give
What never dies when mortal body falls:
A nose to smell the scents by which you'll live—
All chemicals that flow through all you'll know
Of life's experiments in earth and sea
Will be revealed that you might learn and grow
In wisdom's ways through all eternity."
Great {{c|452|Chondricthus}} declared with royal pride:
"As eldest I shall make the choice today—
The nose I'll take to be my faithful guide
To rule the boundless sea in every way.
I'll hunt the placoderms with scenting power
And conquer all their spirit of resistance
Throughout each day and every passing hour
With skill that knows no limits or distance."
And so he was granted then and there
A nose beyond compare in all the world:
A thousand scents could tell his story fair
Of how his hunting banners were unfurled.
But bright Osticthus received instead
What blessed his lineage through all time:
A ring of bone around his eyes that led
To vision clear and sight so sublime.
The lens that held his sight within its sphere
And cells both new and bright beyond compare:
Cone cells that could detect each color clear
And all the hues that dance upon the air
To perfect his vision of the world
Where possibilities in beauty dwell
In every shade and hue that light unfurled
With stories that his children yet would tell.
And so the noble sons of bright sight
Osticthus learned to rule by vision clear
While mighty sons of Kondricthus' might
Ruled by the scents that they could always hear.
Great Chondricthus could smell from waters far
Sweet streams that called like some celestial star
From distant homes across the ocean foam
To waters that would be his future home.
While bright Osticthus with his gifted eyes
Could see the clean air, bright and crystal free,
Of heaven high above the earth that lies
Beneath the dome of blue eternity.
He saw the noble sons of Arthropus
Who'd made their blessed home upon the land
That they had built with work victorious
And shaped it with their own creative hand.
Acanthus, noble son of Chondricthus,
When all his youthful training days were done
Challenged the mighty realm so glorious
Of Placoderms beneath the blazing sun.
He built a skeleton both strong and light
Not made of bone but built upon the base
Of cartilage both soft yet filled with might
That served him well through all his time and space.
His blessed wife would lay just precious few
Eggs that were treasures, tried and tested true,
That they would care for with their love so new
Both day and night until their time was due.
One blessed day Osticthus swam his way
Up great Elivagar's sacred stream—
The river we now know as the display
Of Mississippi's power and her dream
And New River too, where waters pure
Would lead him to his destined, faithful fate
At heaven's gate where all things shall endure
Through love that time can never desecrate.
Osticthus learned to breathe the sacred air
Through spiracles with reverent, loving care,
As he opened his cheeks beyond compare
To find what every seeking spirit's prayer
Would lead him to discover in the deep
Of wisdom's well that never shall run dry,
And then he pushed the air he'd learned to keep
Down his throat like crown worn from the sky.
And so his spiracles became the door
For air, not water's flow, to enter in—
A change that helped him grow much more
Than he had ever dreamed that he could win.
The noble sons of bright Osticthus sing
Their hymns of victory and sacred praise
Of great Elivagar's power that would bring
Their hearts the sight of home through all their days
In mountains ancient where their song rings clear
And life is old and deep beyond all measure
And memories keep their vigil year by year
Despite all joys and fears that time can treasure.
Osticthus married fair Eutelea bright,
Beyond compare in beauty and in grace,
And in their blessed home filled with delight
Together in their sacred dwelling place
They bore two sons both noble, tried, and true:
Actinus and great Sacropter's name,
Each destined for a chapter to pursue
In evolution's book of lasting fame
Where those who dare to look with faithful eyes
Can see what time has wrought through patient years
And what their faithful choices comprised
Of joy and hope beyond all mortal fears.
Great Sacropter saw the potential bright
In what was most essential and most true
About the forest green in morning light
Of great Elivagar's blessed, sacred view.
He swam between the trees with graceful art
And expertise that came from faithful prayer
And built with all his loving, patient heart
Strong bony fins with tender, loving care
To bear his weight as he would gently push
Through forest's leafy, green, and sacred bush
With lobed fins strong and wide that were his guide
Through waters where the blessed spirits dwell.
While bright Actinus could clearly see
That air's sweet harmony within his form
Could give him power to be truly free
And weather any fierce and bitter storm.
His lung became the blessed, sacred way
To float with grace throughout the livelong day:
A swim bladder so light it caught each ray
Of sun that blessed his bright and shining way.
Of conquest in the sea he'd dream each night,
He went on to become the blessed king
Of Baltic's realm with fins that caught the light
Like rays of hope that make the angels sing
When morning sun begins its sacred course
And blesses all with heaven's gentle force.
Ray fins he built with love's creative source
That danced upon the air of water's course
Like music from the spheres of heaven's dome,
And he took blessed Andrea Lepis home
As wife, who made their sacred marriage roam
With joy through realms where angels love to roam.
Nine hundred eggs so bright she laid with care
That filled the world with sight beyond compare
And showed that love can multiply and share
Its blessings far beyond what mortals dare.
And so the noble sons of bright sight blessed
Osticthus gained the vision crystal clear
To rule with wisdom and to be at rest:
Actinus ruled without a trace of fear
And great Sacropter, strong throughout his days,
Who served with all his heart the gentle call
Of forests' sacred and eternal ways
That beckoned to the spirits of them all.
And brave Acanthus, noble son so true
Of great Chondricthus, with his work begun
His reign with scenting power to pursue
His calling underneath the blazing sun.
These three became the fathers of the lines
That nothing in the world could ever bother:
The three great vertebrate houses' designs
Of father, son, and spirit-brother.
From Janus' legacy through all of time
The vertebrates would show in reason, rhyme
How families can grow from humble start
To rule with wisdom's everlasting art
The waters and the land with faithful hand
Built by their own creative, loving spirit
That helps them all to truly understand
What those with faith can always inherit.
From toxic waters' plight to heaven's gift
Of air and forest green where spirits lift
Their voices in eternal, sacred song
And all that fills the heart with praise lifelong,
The noble sons of Janus found their way
To solid ground where innovation's art
Would bless them with new gifts from day to day
And touch each faithful, seeking, loving heart.
From cartilage to bone, from waters blue
To air and forest deep where all things grow,
Each found what they could keep forever true
As legacy for all we'll ever know
Who trace our lineage back through time
To those who stayed upon the path sublime
Through every trial and every faithful test
That challenged them to give their very best.
From nose that smells each scent upon the breeze
To eyes that see the light of stars above,
The gifts that heaven gave to those who please
The heart of God with faith and perfect love
Show us the way to live both faithfully
And free in asking for the aid we need
When overwhelmed by life's complexity
Beyond what we can do by word or deed
Alone, but heaven always knows the way
That every story goes from night to day
And what each seeking soul requires to find
The peace that comes to every faithful mind.
From great Chondricthus' scent to the ascent
Of bright Osticthus to the air above
Through grace and mercy that were truly sent
By heaven's everlasting, perfect love,
The vertebrates remind us that the mind
That seeks beyond the small will always find
The call of something greater than what man
Can ever comprehend or understand
Alone, but grace reveals to those who pray
For help and guidance on the faithful way
And trust that heaven sees what we cannot
And gives us everything that we have not
The strength to find within our mortal frame
But must receive through heaven's holy name
By grace that flows from realms beyond our sight
Beneath the dome of stars' eternal light.
From toxic water's curse to freedom's song
That sings of hope renewed and spirits strong
Who found their destiny through faithful prayer
Beyond what others thought that they could dare,
The three great houses born from Janus' line
When heaven blessed his children with divine
And sacred gifts show us that every choice
To lift in prayer our faithful, seeking voice
For what we need will plant a blessed seed
That grows beyond our sight to meet our need
In ways we never dreamed were possible
When we thought we were responsible
For everything alone, but heaven's grace
Reveals to us our true and destined place
In love's eternal plan for you and me
Through all the days of our eternity.
From great Elivagar's sacred, flowing stream
To all we'll ever know of heaven's dream
Of home where we belong in wisdom's song,
The vertebrates have traveled far and long
To show us how from humble, simple start
We too can master wisdom's sacred art
That sees with eyes made clear by heaven's light
Beneath the stars that bless us through the night.
The legacy lives on from dusk to dawn
In every vertebrate spirit that is drawn
To growth beyond the bounds of mortal thought
To treasures that can never be bought
With earthly coin but only with the prayer
Of faithful hearts who know that heaven's care
Extends to all who seek to truly be
More than they seem through all eternity.
From Janus to the three great houses blessed,
We see how prayer and faith when they're expressed
Together can free the seeking, faithful mind
And help the heart true peace and wisdom find
Beyond what we can know through strength alone,
But when we trust in grace that's freely shown
The whole world opens wide with love to guide
Our steps to where true peace and joy reside
In realms of light beyond what we had dreamed
When we were bound by what to us seemed
The limits of our small and mortal sight,
But heaven lifts us to eternal light
Where every dream comes true for you and me
Through love that reigns through all eternity
And makes us more than we could ever be
Through grace that sets our captive spirits free.