conversation with the Beast of Baluchistan

sitting next to the Beast
I am unmistakably
small

but being a nosy person
I ask
(carefully not using
the word "extinction")

Beast,
my friend

do these
21st century trees
satisfy?

Glempfllschhhh
he says
(that sounded like yes)

and may I ask
Sir Beast
are you a strict vegetarian?

(I did need to know)

Vroopff
he said
with an air of...old leaves?

And then
he looked me in both eyes
and spoke

I would lie if I said
I never am tempted
to nibble on salamanders

Oh! I said
and the snow
that melts in tiny lakes
around the tree trunks

you have seen it too?

And the invisible frogs
that sing in the Spring...

--My favorite sound!

and the tall grasses
with waving plumes
that glow in the setting sun
(I like to hide behind them--I'm shy, you know)

my dear Beast,
you are thirty feet tall,
can you disappear in the grass
just like that

the sun sparkling
in the rushes
distracts the eye

Uniquely ancient one,
I wonder
was the sunlight then
brighter, fresher

has it become discouraged
is it tired

those are strange words
my extremely small friend

we do not tire
we rest in the silence
we have millions of years
to live

Beast
is your silence the same
as that in my heart

yes, your stillness
deep enough to mute
a flock
of pterodactyls
it is the same