by Ruth S. Baker

“In a dazzling discovery, fossils brought up from a mine in Wee Warra, near the Australian outback town of Lightning Ridge, belong to the newly named dinosaur species Weewarrasaurus pobeni. The animal, which was about the size of a Labrador retriever, walked on its hind legs and had both a beak and teeth for nibbling vegetation. A type of dinosaur known as an ornithopod, Weewarrasaurus may have moved in herds or small groups for protection.”—National Geographic

The climate’s shot:
The poles are hot,
The seas are spoiled and yeasty;
What have we got?
A knack, that’s what
(More sciency than priesty),
For bringing round
From underground
The dead and gone—at least, we
Out back have found
This fossil-bound
Weewarrasaurus beastie!

“Ornithopod!
If I were God,
You’d live,” I sighed; then smarted
As, with an odd
Sarcastic nod
He spoke, like one re-started:
“Your grief is worth
No more than mirth:
But if you’re tender-hearted,
And long for dearth
To pause on earth,
It’s time your kind departed.”