Carnival of the fossils
Perusing books late at night, I came across the quote page behind the table of contents in Bob Carroll’s Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. The quote is too good to pass up. I’ve never completely "gotten" poetry, but the kinds I like tend to rhyme and have a nifty beat and cool message. This one’s a little light on message, but hey, it has to do with fossils. Here ya go:
Last night in the museum’s hall
The fossils gathered for a ball.
There were no drums or saxophones,
But just the clatter of their bones,
A rolling, rattling carefree circus
Of mammoth polkas and mazurkas.
Pterodactyls and brontosauruses
Sang ghostly prehistoric choruses.
Amid the mastodonic wassail
I caught the eye of one small fossil.
Cheer up, sad world, he said, and winked -
It’s kind of fun to be extinct.
–Ogden Nash, "Carnival of the Animals"
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