when God uttered
the first poem
when Brahma awoke
when the unknowable exploded
into unconscious
when dying stars wove themselves
into planetary finery
when life first savored
the gorgeousness of time
when fish first crowded
on to land
when dinosaurs took
to the sky
when Adam kissed Eve
when the holiest shaman touched
bottom of the bottomless sea
when Prometheus shared godly fire
when Zarathustra revealed
the possibility of truth
when Moses raised up the tablets
of the law
when Heraclitus stepped in a
different river with Lao Tzu
when Parmenides roused
the universe to order
when Confucius discovered
the humanheartedness of
man
when Buddha stepped forth
to vanquish suffering
when Socrates corrupted
the youth
when Jesus granted the kingdom
of heaven to the poor of heart
when Allah spoke with
Muhammad’s voice
when Francis canticled the Sun
when Rumi lost his mind
when Dante honored
the virtuous pagans
when Luther insisted on being
Luther
when Bash? heard the frogsplash
when Jefferson declared
men equal
when Lincoln summoned
the better angels
when Edison let there be
light
when Luther-King dreamed
when Shinto priests
dance
when the Pope blessed
the silence
whenever an angel
earns new wings