Tyrannosaurus Regina

Tyrannosaurus Regina

She stood above us
six feet three,
had shoulders broad
and oxen-square,
a posture straight and rigid.

She prowled the aisles,
stalked whisperers,
growled Latin verbs
behind our backs.

We chewed on Caesar’s Gallic Wars.
“Veni, vidi, vici.”
We gnawed nourishment from roots.
costa-, fides-, lumen-, sol-…
We charged through conjugation rows.
amo, amare, amani…
We did battle with subjunctives.
ero, eras, erat…

We dreaded class
and bit our nails.
We thought she was a monster.
How little did we know…
she threw us golden keys.

Bonnie Marshall