Two by two , he took them in,

every order, every kind,

bird, beast, insect--scale and fin--

no living creature left behind.

For months the rain poured down--for years.

The food grew scarce, the space grew small.

He shot the great beasts--lions, bears--

and hung their heads upon the wall.

Down came the rain. He sacrificed

the dodo and great blue auk,

harpooned the white sperm whale, erased

the eagle and the red-tailed hawk.

He slaughtered cattle, pigs, and sheep,

poisoned the insects and the rats,

put all the squirrels and moles to sleep

and cut the throats of dogs and cats.

He slaughtered everything that moved,

whatever could fly, run, creep or swim,

and last of all he killed the dove.

There was no one on the ark but him.

Copyright 2010-2012 Paul Petrie