Numbering

                  In Eden they didn't number
                  but named
                  each animal, each flower
                  and tree,
                  though eventually it happened,
                  perhaps when Adam
                  thought to count his ribs
                  or the number of 
                  a woman's ways of tempting.
                  Or maybe Eve needed
                  to count the children,
                  (for there must have been more
                  and eventually a daughter)
                  the number of times
                  her body had wrenched open.
                  How ever it was,
                  there were soon knots on strings,
                  dots, lines
                  traced into clay.
                  There were scratches, notches,
                  scores on wood,
                  and in time, words
                  for hundreds of sheep,
                  thousands of coins,
                  millions of casualties.
     

                 Rebecca Balcarcel  (Click for bio.)


      


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