FAUNAS


When I was young, I loved in thought to plod

The lands of long ago, when creatures trod

The earth, with spines or fangs, or talon-shod,

Like none that lives today. I wished some god

Would whisk me back to stride the selfsame sod

As mammoth, saber-tooth, or sauropod,

and others just as odd.

But now I know that on this present sphere,

However sane, conventional, and drear

My swarming fellow anthropoids appear,

Beneath the fragile civilized veneer

Of men lurk spirits every kit as queer

As brontosaurus or titanothere

And worthier of fear.


L. Sprague de Camp, 1968


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