Shall we move on?
Or must we
keep going—
preemptively
occupied—
over the
same ground?
*
When
god speaks,
nature
takes dictation.
And every letter,
each curled leaf
stem and tendril,
must first be
deciphered, then
cataloged individually.
And all
at the ceremonious pace
of a glacier—
such that
any creature
not of the proper likeness
shall perish
before finishing
the first commandment's
first sentence.