Naming The Beasts. Revised
Posted: 12 May 2018, 23:06
In the beginning he had no frame
of progeny, no personal history.
Just a man, new-made,
risen from mud, alone.
Glimpses of them in the underbrush,
foraging the tall grasses, tops of trees,
The sun blotted for a time with the thickness of wings,
the underbrush alive with their teaming,
Creatures like him insomuch
that they moved, lived,
and breathed, but crawled or walked on four legs.
And yet they knew
to keep a distance.
At night he could hear their breathing, catch the glint of an eye caught in fire light.
At dusk he struck a fire for light,
the moon not being yet full, sat back
on his haunches beneath a tree and waited.
They came silently limb-to-limb and by air.
Some lumbered or crawled, walked
by two's to present themselves to the man,
lay down at his feet
bent their necks
for fear had
not yet entered into the world.
The man studied each face, probed it
with his fingers as a blind man does,
stroked muzzles, snouts, manes,scales
and tail in order to discern each
creature's measure of the Divine.
He was moved by their beauty, their perfection.
He stood an pronounced its name,
strking the earth with a stick:
Thunders when walking
Carries young on it's back
Runs in circles
Drops down from above
Fire from its tongue
At first light, it was finished.
The man lay exhausted, thinking
perhaps he had failed, for he knew a sense
of forlorness that was alien.
Seeing that each creature had a mate,
He thought inwardly, "birds have nests,
foxes have holes, but the man
has no breast upon which to lay his head."
And he wept himself into a deep sleep.
of progeny, no personal history.
Just a man, new-made,
risen from mud, alone.
Glimpses of them in the underbrush,
foraging the tall grasses, tops of trees,
The sun blotted for a time with the thickness of wings,
the underbrush alive with their teaming,
Creatures like him insomuch
that they moved, lived,
and breathed, but crawled or walked on four legs.
And yet they knew
to keep a distance.
At night he could hear their breathing, catch the glint of an eye caught in fire light.
At dusk he struck a fire for light,
the moon not being yet full, sat back
on his haunches beneath a tree and waited.
They came silently limb-to-limb and by air.
Some lumbered or crawled, walked
by two's to present themselves to the man,
lay down at his feet
bent their necks
for fear had
not yet entered into the world.
The man studied each face, probed it
with his fingers as a blind man does,
stroked muzzles, snouts, manes,scales
and tail in order to discern each
creature's measure of the Divine.
He was moved by their beauty, their perfection.
He stood an pronounced its name,
strking the earth with a stick:
Thunders when walking
Carries young on it's back
Runs in circles
Drops down from above
Fire from its tongue
At first light, it was finished.
The man lay exhausted, thinking
perhaps he had failed, for he knew a sense
of forlorness that was alien.
Seeing that each creature had a mate,
He thought inwardly, "birds have nests,
foxes have holes, but the man
has no breast upon which to lay his head."
And he wept himself into a deep sleep.