Epilogue

In the beginning was the word…

Carl von Linne had changed his name in time
Arriving much as Abram did at Ab-
Raham, lord of kingdoms, families, and phylum,
Leaving order and to each class a job:
Vindicating Adam’s utter Babel
Of general sinfulness with special grace.
Note Abram’s stamen and Sarah’s pistil:
Love is the word at root that’s left their trace.
Incarnated in each renewed season,
Nativity thus digs for its own dying.
Now, too, these numbered names have sounded song
Even as Eve’s woman joins Adam’s man –

Justifying the names of everything –
Creatures deeded God’s creative dominion.

Zingiber & Zinnia

Carry my bones with you out of this place.

Zingiber, you edge the east of history
In the cornucopia of your root,
Navigating empire, traversing spice route,
Gaining universal appeal – this story
Is your real horn of plenty: medieval
Belief would see the source of your descent
Exalted in Edenic exodus, sent,
Reprieved and rescued far east of evil.

Zinnia, you edge the west of mystery…
In the asterix of your desert bloom
New worlds of color set their suns in starry
Nativity: Cortez among las mariposas,
In God’s garden plot he saw Adam
Add Joseph's name to the new genesis.

Zizyphus Jujuba

…he drew up his feet upon the bed, and died.
And he was gathered to his people.

Zizyphus jujuba, your fruit is born
In infant innocence, nestled within
Zion’s crowning hills – a tender flesh to thorn,
You yoke your destiny to the branch of men.
Passions dulled by your fruit, the Lotus Men
Hibernate in dreams, eschewing your thorn,
Undulating in a slow reign within
Souls that die to life and live to be born.

Jacob nominated death’s land at last,
Ushering in the end of the beginning
Just as Adam brought Eden’s conclusion
Under the guise of fruit with thorn that would last
Beyond his children’s fathers by beginning
A generation without conclusion.