A Long Time Ago

A long time ago dinosaurs as big as houses
On legs as high as spaceships
Traipsed through forests as dim as night,
With enemies like skyscrapers,
Surrounded by insects as big as dogs,
Worms as long as your arms,
Flies that ate your eyes
And plants that snapped at your feet.

Giant birds as wide as a road soared overhead,
Fish in the lakes looked at you with an evil eye,
The alligators were a mile long and ran faster than your car.

Millipedes were like rugs,
Spiders hunted in packs,
And ants as big as your fist squirted poison in your eyes.

Once you’d been eaten
There was only your smell left,
And even that was swallowed by bacteria as big as wasps.

October 2007