The Argument from Design

What wonder work of man's design evokes!:
A geodesic dome, orchestral ode,
A marble torso's polished poise, a leaf
Of patient monk's calligraphy.

Then what
Of choral symphonies cetaceans sing?
--Or diatomic skeletons? --Long wings
Of gliding swans? --Or butterflies that spread
Their richly painted pages in the sun?

There is wonder in wheels: in wheels that do not pitch
Or crawl or bend at an uncertain knee,
That nature beyond nature brings, in wheels
That roll their treads in silver lunar soil;

And wonder, too, that deep within the mind
Of man, there is a notion of design.

© Douglas Allchin
4/7/93