Ammonites seem to have an air of superiority about them.
I’m glad I am an ammonite,
A most superior clan.
My Ammon’s coily ram-horn shape
Gives me a God-like plan.
My DNA has made me thus:
Its double helix shape
Has got me winding round myself –
A fate I can’t escape.
So I feel I’ve been set apart
From other ocean creatures.
Take nautiloids. They’re less evolved,
With subtly different features:
The siphuncle they’ve got inside
Is central, mine is not;
Their suture patterns curve a bit,
Mine squiggle quite a lot.
I’m better than a belemnite –
They’re dull and rather straight;
I’m so glad I’m an ammonite,
I really am first-rate!
And when I die, I’d like to rest
On Lyme Bay’s stony coast.
Then, when geologists come by,
They’ll see my spiral ghost . . .