Prehistoric Science

One Paleolithic morning
   A caveman known as Ock
Was pounding on a heavy stone
   With a handy rock.
His cousin Ug inquired,
   "What you do that for?
Rock on stone make only noise
   And splinters. It a bore!"

Ock said, "Not just splinters.
   Some things you not know.
Bigger stone look ready now.
   Watch me hit just so.
Flake fall off from big stone.
   (No) grab! ( ) Sharp edge there!
Flake is good for chopping wood
   Or fighting angry bear.

        "(It) not just rock, it Science!
        Things go like they do.
        And me always ask me, Why?
        You should ask you, too."

Generations later
   Ock's descendant Ghin
Poked a sharp stick in the ground
   And dropped a berry in.
Her neighbor asked, astonished,
   "Have you gone off your head?
If you don't want that, give it here,
   Don't bury it like the dead!"

Ghin said, "In gathering berries
   I've noticed, year by year,
That sometimes, where a berry falls,
   A new bush will appear.
If I can make that happen
   It won't be long before
I'll have a field of bushes here
   And berries at my door.

        "(It's not) burial, it's Science!
        Things go as they do.
        And I always wonder why.
        You should wonder, too."

We've gone from rocks and berries
   To atoms and the sky.
We've kept our sense of wonder
   And we've kept on asking why.
We've learned to seek the countless ways
   The universe connects,
To form and test hypotheses
   Of causes and effects.

With dreams and intuition
   And observation clear,
With scientific method
   (And the) will to persevere,
We chop away illusion
   And let our dreams take root.
We clear the way before us,
   (See our) visions bearing fruit.

        Now it's rocket science
        And quarks and DNA
        Because we wonder, think, and try
        To find a better way.