part of the game

i don’t imagine dinosaurs
could conceive
of their imminent extinction —

whether from a flaming comet
crashing into the gulf of mexico
(as some have claimed)
or through the inexorable march
of climate change.
but their fossils remain —

found nearly anyplace
one can imagine,
to remind us (perhaps)
how everything does (and will) change
and that changes —

whether seismically small
or painfully slow
or a flash in the pan
or earthshakingly grand —

are simply just part
of the game.