The Museum

SATB divisi, a cappella

Duration: 4:00   Difficulty: 3 (medium)

Text: Edna Yeh

The Museum

Late at night in the depths of the museum,
The doors are shut tight, and the lights are dim.

Minerals glisten in the pallid light:
Azurite, malachite, hematite, lepidolite.

All is silent and all is still.
Nothing is heard in the hall until

A faint little rattle, then a rumble, and a groan;
Then the creak and clatter of rock and bone.

Slowly the fossils begin their midnight rites:
Ammonites, trilobites, graptolites, stromatolites.

Echinoids spin and crinoids swirl,
Bryozoans whirl and brachiopods twirl.

Sparkling crystals set a festive scene:
Olivine, tourmaline, citrine, sphene, aventurine.

Into the hall swoops a lone pteranodon,
Joining the dance with smilodon and mastodon.

Pterodactyls launch themselves into the mix,
With velociraptors and an archaeopteryx.

Soon the floor begins to shake:
The giants in the hall are now awake.

Triceratops! Brachiosaurus! Hadrosaurus! Dimetrodon!
Stegosaurus! Deinonychus! Megalosaurus! Iguanodon!

They stomp and slide and shuffle and spring,
Even Eohippus gets into the swing.

The fossils dance the night away
And return to their displays at the break of day.

Leaving no trace of the bacchanalian crew
Until the day is done and they begin anew.