A DINO’S AURA
Now Cloud Cap’s near to Cooper Spur Hard by the timber-line, Above it looms the mountain and Below it blooms the pine.
It’s reared of logs and sits bang up Right pert upon a crag, And through the roof a chimney’s built Of hacked volcanic slag.
We gathered ’round the fireplace there— The guide, the guests and me, The Junior from New Haven and The man from Tennessee.
We’d had a rousing dinner of Spaghetti and roast-lamb, Substantially supported by A chowder made of clam.
We talked about the morrow and The perils of the hike, About the snowy crater there And what it all was like.
We got along to bergschrunds and Erosion and seracs, And that kind of queer explosion when A nervous serac cracks.
We figured out how long ’twould take (We all submitted plans) To parcel-post a glacier’s ice By shipping it in cans.
We talked of starry nebulæ, Auroras, comets’ tails, Toads found alive in sandstone rock And ice-imprisoned whales;
Suspended animation and The tribe of Dinosaurs, (Just here the man from Tennessee Passed ’round some good cigars);
We stated and we countered in A wordy-wise delirium About the reptile Dinosaur And mammal Dinotherium.
In short we talked of everything That people talk about When sparring for a last word more To help the conflab out.
We sprawled a bit, we yawned and stretched, We lumberingly arose And brought a most loquacious night Abruptly to a close.
A dozen moments afterwards, A dozen drowsy heads Had hit a dozen pillows on A dozen downy beds.
For prostrate with their hikings were A dozen pair of shanks As they slept the sleep of Vikings ’neath The wood-rat riddled planks.
The old Inn shook and trembled with A rat-a-tat-a-tat, As all the blustering four winds blew Like Great Jehoshaphat—
Like Blazes blew and Blitzen, banged The window-sash till sud- denly the thing just opened with One gosh-almighty thud.
Then quickly—as if conscious of Such ill-timed, boorish riot, Those shrieking, spiteful, frightful winds Became most meek and quiet;
And in the lull there rolled a dull, Strange gurgle in my ear And through the window-space I saw A monstrous thing appear—
A snow-white critter, giant-high, With trunk and pussy’s paws— In short his make-up seemed exempt From all of Nature’s laws.
A husky, tusky Titan growth With squidgy, squinty eyes— I drew the covers closer up— The creature said “Arise!”
“Not so, old Scout,” I squiddled out, “Bed’s good enough for me!” His trunk moved slowly toward my bunk, The monster said “We’ll see!”
“Then who are you and what’s your game?” (I tried to be as calm as A man can be while shivering In only silk pajamas.)
“To thus intrude your presence rude, You big Albino cur!” “What’s that!” said he, “You don’t know me— I am a Dino, Sir!”
“A Dinosaur? The heck you are! From your get-up I’ll swan You’re what our scientific sharks Have dubbed a Mastodon!
A rare, old wooly specimen ’Mongst fossil Pachyderms!” “For what they claim I’m not to blame, I have no knack at terms;
“I only know I say what’s so, A Dino’s what I be— Because your experts get things wrong— That doesn’t bother me.
“I am a Dino—or to be A little more exact, I am a Dino’s aura, Sir! A Dino’s ghost in fact!
“I overheard your talk tonight About our ancient clan— I grew absorbed, I got a hunch, Thinks I ‘At last—my man!’
“You spoke of ice-imprisoned whales— Oh little did you know The way that touched my heart that pulsed A million years ago—
“My other heart that lies so still Within my frozen fur— My other heart upon the hill Deep in yon glacier.
“Oh could I break that crystal mold Where I’ve been doomed to freeze Down in that gloom and bitter cold For untold centuries,
“I’m sure my heart would pulse again, Those haunches limber grow, And I could roam as once I did— Once in the Long-ago!
“There is an ice-cave known to none, Leads to that Mausoleum, And he that was that other me Rests there where you shall see him.
“So come and look—perhaps you could Evolve some keen device To extricate my stiffened shanks From out that flux of ice,
“And I will bear you back, I swear, As I’m a Dino’s spirit, To this here shack before the crack Of daylight—never fear it!”
“But Brother—” here you will observe How friendly we’d become, “For me to go up there tonight With You—is going Some!
“And such a task! What could I do? ’Twould weigh so mighty on My mortal shoulders—and besides I’ve but my nightie on!”
“Why don’t you see” replied the wraith, “What faith I’ve got in you— Who’d parcel-post a glacier’s ice In cans—what can’t you do?
“Some high explosive you could get Like dynamite and blow Me out from all my frigid plight— It could be done, I know.”
“It could be done,” I said, “but then The risk you run is heightened— The dyna-MITE blow bones and all— And then again it mightn’t!”
I looked to see—perhaps the pun Had punched his ponderous thinker— His countenance was passive quite, He never winked a blinker.
But then his wraithy nut, I ween, Was shadow-celled—not solid, Hence this hiatus in his bean, His manner grave and stolid.
“This dynamiting Dinos is Quite risky in the main— Although you haven’t much to lose And quite a bit to gain!”
“I’ll chance it—come!” the Dino said, “There’s little time to lose— We ghosts you know, can only romp While other people snooze.”
His trunk galumpled toward my bunk, It snoodled till it found me, Then with a firm but gentle squeeze It wrapped itself around me;
It lifted me into the air Out toward the window-sash— The lamp upon the table there Fell with a telltale crash,
Which roused my next-door neighbor up, The man from Tennessee, Who with his light came rushing in To learn what it could be.
Of course no wraith can stand the light— It must have made him sore To have his trunk dissolve in night While I sprawled on the floor.
As for the man from Tennessee And what had just occurred— With me in my pajamas there, I told him not a word.
I told him nothing for I knew He’d never understand— I asked him just to get a rag And wrap my bruiséd hand.