The last Ichthyosaurus

"The last Ichthyosaurus"  (1854)

"A hiss between the horsetails
Suspicious shines the sea -
There comes with tears in his eyes
An Ichthyosaurus swimming here.

He laments the corruption of times,
as alarming indications
were spotted already
in the Lias stratifications.

The plesiosaur, the old fellow,
Lives off the fat of the land,
And Pterodactyl itself
Recently flew home after much he drank.

The Iguanodon, such a tyke,
Becomes even more cheeky:
As he kissed Ms. Ichthyosauria
Seen by all the other gentry.

I guess there comes a world disaster,
So it can no longer going on!
What will become of the Lias,
If such things are done?

So sighed poor Ichthyosaurus,
his heart crumbling like a chalky cliff,
And so his last breath
went down the hissing tide.

So in this last hour
The entire dinosauria
Went much to deep into the Cretaceous Period
Went extinct as it's time was over.

And if you ask who told me this,
This petrified song
I found it on a fossil palm leaf
Inside a Coprolite!!"

German poet Joseph Viktor von Scheffel (1826-1886)