Hush! Did I just hear a dinosaur?

(A poem for Zack)

As I grow old my head spins round

with thoughts of dinosaurian sound.

We know their age, their size, their diet,

but surely they were never quiet!

I’ve heard the scientific word—

a dinosaur was like a bird.

Should we suppose a dawn chorus

featuring tyrannosaurus?

We imagine that they roared,

but like the crow perhaps they cawed.

Diplodocus’ neck was really long.

Would he have made a chirpy song;

And from triceratops’ frill

might we have heard a budgie trill;