Dinosaur Love

On the Museum of Natural History's 4th floor
I greeted my old friend:
“Hey, T. Rex! Long time, no see!”
My buddy flashed his killer teeth:
“Over two years, E. Katz,
I missed you.”

Surprised, I asked, “You missed me?
I didn't know dinosaurs had emotions.
Rexy, did you know love?”

Rexy sighed: “I knew love
           not as humans can
but as humans do:
           love of self
           and love of finding something weaker
                      to pounce upon.
E. Katz, can your species be saved
           by love's possibilities?”

“Rexy,” I answered, “you haven't lost
your ability
to ask the tough question.
Let me ask you something we humans
have been curious about for centuries.
How did you die?”

“I don't know.
One day I looked around
and I wasn't there.”

Eliot Katz 1986