A talk between the gods

by Matthew Stokdyk

Do you remember
when the world was young
and we along with it?

when we budded from nothing
rosebuds
on a thornless stem?

can you not recall
when our eyes begat the sun
just to share the evening?

sang out the birdsong
for the nightingale to take up
and repeat forever?

or when you started humming
and from it came the bees
(and I found the honey tasted like you)?

was it you or I
who fashioned the clouds
to make a pleasant bed?

did you not scatter the stars
and set them tumbling
just as we had danced?

and did I not spread the seeds
to set the meadows rolling
and give the ground its color?

do you remember
when we watched the lands be born
and feed upon the first rain?

and can you now see
the trees have grown old
and wither at the root?

have you watched as even the stones
pelted by hungry rain
are dying?

what fate have we
if all else that has come
is fading too?

and what has happened
to the voice you made for yourself
which now is so silent?