Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, IN THE BEGINNING, by ROBERT LEOPOLD WOLF


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

IN THE BEGINNING, by                    
First Line: This is how he made the snake
Last Line: It was dark of the sixth day.
Subject(s): Animals; Creation; God; Snakes; Serpents; Vipers


This is how He made the snake:
With the brand new garden rake
First He raked the leaves away;
Then He spaded up the clay
With the brand new garden spade
(On the fifth day that was made),
And a sticky yellow lump
Like the new-made camel's hump
(Yonder, grazing -- there it stands),
This He took between His hands,
Sat him down upon the grass,
While his sun made shadows pass.

Thought awhile and simply sat --
God has naught to hurry at --
Humming tunes for new-made psalms
Rolled the clay between His palms,
Rolled it smooth and slim and long
Pressing it between the strong
Rapid fingers -- it became
Like a wriggling rope, the same
Length and thickness as an arm
While the horse inhaled alarm!

Lidless emeralds for eyes --
For a nose He dinted twice
With a yellowed finger-nail
The flat head; and for a tail
Lengthened to a furious whip
That thin body's other tip.
Pried the angry fangs apart,
Whispered poison to the heart,
Taught its native hiss to sound,
Flung the creature to the ground!
* * *
Having made the snake, there was
Only Adam in His place.
God was gone, and gone for good:
In His footprints Adam stood,
And the serpent slid away . . .
It was dark of the Sixth Day.





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