The sea scorpion,
ignorant of sun and moon,
reigns in mud and slime.

In floating cities,
graptolites wait for dinner
to drift by the door.

The worm crawls ashore,
forgets its mother, the sea,
and never looks back.

The continents race
headlong, hellbent on havoc
-- mischief, at the least.

The drifting lands close
on ancient seas like the jaws
of vast, patient beasts.

Yet, preoccupied,
the doomed trilobites neglect
to make out their wills.

Utley, Steven (b. 1948). U.S. short-story writer and poet. Books include Lone Star Universe (anthology co-edited with Geo. W. Proctor, 1976), Ghost Seas (short fiction, 1997), and the perennially soon-to-be-finished Silurian Tales.