Tellurians

Tellurians

Do not mourn the dinosaurs,
They had their time and lived it well.
They stomped and roared for all their worth,
They swam and soared and ruled the Earth.

Do not mourn the dinosaurs,
Their bones at least remain to tell –
They gift us sight beyond our own.
To think we might have never known !

Do not mourn the dinosaurs,
They caught the wave and rode the swell.
Their genomes danced their warp and weft,
They came by chance, and likewise left.

Do not mourn the dinosaurs,
They still can weave a potent spell.
Magnificent – and now they’re gone –
They came and went, and life goes on.

Do not mourn the dinosaurs,
They hugely reigned and hugely fell.
Oh Brave Old World, who proudly bore
Each wondrous, thund’rous dinosaur !

To any pedant itching to tell me that the line ‘they swam and soared’ is wrong because neither Plesiosaurs nor pterasaurs were actually dinosaurs, I’ll just point out that clearlyI was referring to Spinosaurus and Microraptor.

But speaking of which, we need a term that simply means ‘big and reptilian and pre-KT’, and I would like to propose the old neglected word ‘tellurian’.  And yes, it can include the mammalian synapsids, since all mammals are really reptiles, as the pedants just love to tell us.  And yes, I further know ‘KT’ is an old term as well, but tough titties…