Mary Anning

Gentle waves washed the English coast
Where once Mesozoic oceans played
Creatures odd and massive it did boast
Now walks this fatherless, solitary maid

Her intent, to find curiosities to sell
Remains of shellfish long gone from the sea
“Snake-stones” for which the tourist paid well
To aid her low class and hungry family

This day her discovery is something new
Sixteen meters long, a jaw with teeth,
Flippers propelled it through the briny blue
A gift to Mary the sand did now bequeath

The ichthyosaur was Mary Anning’s find
When she was but a young girl of twelve
A life-long passion Mary then refined
And into the past she eagerly did delve

No women could join the Geological Society
No low-class person was credited with their finds
Yet Mary was recognized for her authority
And worked with scientists, a meeting of the minds

Anning changed the view we have of the past
Exploring creatures no one had ever seen
An ichthyosaur was named for her at last
Reminder of this explorer of the marine