Downsizing

Fossil of Archaeopteryx

 

birds trembled the earth
with feet of their fathers
grew leathery wings
from featherless fingers
singing in roars that fell
dead upon lavaflows
back when one landmass
heaved up from one sea
cataclysmically boiling
beneath roiling skies
thick with pyroclast fumes
branding brainstems
with fight or flight
instinct and impetus
sealed within seeds
evolution would germinate
bearing the dinosaur
down through the aeons
to light on your finger