The Classic by Nigel Hughes: "Lament for the passing of the Trilobites"
Oh, look, what can this be,
swimming all over the Cambrian sea?
Is it Spriqqina?, no, it cannot be,
some new and strange innovation maybe.
Come, hear the tale of the Trilobites days,
niches exploited in so many ways!
Where did they come from and where did they go?
I've just spent three years and I still do not know.
Paradoxides is not what it seems,
more or less segments, who knows what that means?
Trilobite workers in such consternation,
intraspecific phenotypic variation.
Phacopids with their schizochroal eyes
more or less lenses, was that really wise?
Natural selection it made the decision,
advantages reaped from peripheral vision.
So why did these marvelous creatures decline?
Was it meteorite impacts or just too much wine?
Was it drying of oceans on Pangea's shores?
Was it natural progression of one of Cope's laws?
Alas! It seems there's no end to debate
to the ultimate cause which determined their fate,
for Trilobite workers would be out of a job,
so if you discover, Just keep shut your gob!
That was the tale of the Trilobites days,
and the niches exploited in so many ways!
Where did they come from and where did they go?
I'll spend all my life and I'll still never know!