CREATION, WEEK 2 Poem by Alexis de Roode

On Monday man created an image of heaven and earth.
The heavens were high, the earth vast and dangerous.
Chaos entered his spirit and emptiness floated in his belly.
The man spoke: Let there be a border. And he drew a border.
That which lay on one side of the border, he called garden.
And that which lay on the other side, he called wilderness.
And the evening and the morning were the first day.

The man spoke: Let the animals and the plants in the wilderness
be cared for by God, for he has made them.
But the animals and plants in the garden are mine.
I will cherish them and care for them, they will enrich my garden.
And it was so. He called the plants and the animals in the garden food.
And he called the plants and the animals in the wilderness nature.
And the evening and the morning were the second day.

The man spoke: The animals and plants belong to me,
but they are obedient to time. They bloom in the spring
and give fruit of their seed in the Autumn. The birds lay eggs
according to their kind, but in the winter they lay nothing.
I will give the plants a house of glass and in the henhouse
I will install a bright light. I will eat eggs in December.
And the evening and the morning were the third day.

The man spoke: My garden is obedient to me the whole year,
but it doesn't work half as hard as I do. The slow plants
feed themselves from the slow earth. The animals grow slowly
like the plants that they eat. Let there be fertilizers and concentrates!
And there were fertilizers and concentrates. And the cabbages
and cows sped up their growth. And the man saw that it was good.
And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

The man spoke: let my garden be fruitful
whenever I so want. For the plants and animals
reproduce themselves at random, without thinking of my needs.
I will take the calves away from the cow. I will collect the seed
of bulls in my own hand. I will put the male chicks in the shredder.
Therefore no animal will be born unless I say so.
And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

The man spoke: From nesting time to slaughter animals and plants
are obedient to me. But there is still anarchy hidden in the seed.
It mingles according to its own nature and blows out of the garden.
I shall break open the seed and change it. And it will be
my seed from generation to generation. And it was so.
And the man saw that everything he had made,
was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Now the garden of the man was finished.
And on the seventh day when he saw all the work
that he had made, he rested and he looked out over his garden.
He ate seedless grapes and swam in a pond of milk.
He saw the bees dying in swarms in his garden.
The soil had become bitter. And he saw that it was …
Oh well, he said. Tomorrow is another day. There is still time.