GENESIS
in the beginning
Night proposed
its darkness to the sky
Day also came running over
painting light everywhere
this is not my sorry story
it’s the world’s, its characters’
Winter later showed
its bone-chilling face
supplanted by Summer
beautiful against its
searing countenance
the world crawls on its fours
and the rage is yet to come
when eventually
Fire flamed out in all
of its charged ardor
Water flowed gently
until the ocean was full
the world suckles freely
and trots about its own edges
then came proud Lions
in their tawny coats
and carnivorous spirits
Lambs were left at a
corner grazing the green
in a remorseless silence
the world grows its first tooth
and how awesome that must feel
the next dawn
Cats meowed their
way into existence
Mice also gained
entrance, pointing
their snouts at life
the world tries its milk teeth
on the rock, calling it bread
all in all in all
nature happened
and trouble finds the untroubled
changing their status free of charge
purposes differed
forces clashed
oil fought water
forgetting they
were both liquids
faith and doubt in the same pot
is that the recipe’s directive?
the world once
jolly and yummy
became a fierce
battleground
prematurely
for to love is war
and to hate is war
joy got a
happy name
and sorrow
a sad game of
hacking hearts
the world becomes The World
—and it is simply what it is
for in the very beginning
was where and when
the end marked us out
neared and cornered us
then stepped back and watched us
Joseph Olamide Babalola is a writer and poet whose heartfelt love for literary creativity is unending. A co-winner of 2018 PIN Food Poetry Contest, his fictions and poems have appeared in 101words, Poetica, Kreative Diadem, MONUS2.0, Tall Tales Anthology, K&L Anthology, WordFest’19 and others. He lives in Ogbomoso, Nigeria, where he daily engages with creative arts and nature.
