Two Poems

from Paradise Illustrated (1978)

I
'Come!' spoke the Almighty to Adam.
'There's work to do, even in Eden.'

'I want to see what you'll call them,'
The Lord said. 'It's a good day for it.'
'And take your thumb out of your mouth,'
He added. (Adam was missing his mother.)

So they shuffled past, or they hopped,
Or they waddled. The beasts of the field
And the fowls of the air,
Pretending not to notice him.

'Speak up now,' said the Lord God briskly.
'Give each and every one the name thereof.'

'Fido,' said Adam, thinking hard,
As the animals went past him one by one,
'Bambi', 'Harpy', 'Pooh',
'Incitatus', 'Acidosis', 'Apparat',
...