Our Origin Poem by Joseph Cimanuka

God stoops down.

His hand, a shovel biting into riverbank clay,
Lifts a great mass of earth.

Then He sits above the sky,
Cross-legged among the winds,
Turning the clay in His hands
Like a potter studying an unshaped vessel.

A beast?

A bird?

A creature of claw and fang?

No—a man.

A being in My image.

I shall create him.

God kneads the clay,
Pressing and shaping,
Until the earth yields a human form.

Then He bends low
And breathes into its nostrils—

Like a bellows hissing over embers.

The clay shudders.

The chest rises.

The eyes flicker.

Behold! He breathes.

The fruit of My imagination lives.

Behold Adam,

A man born from earth.

I give him power—

Power over the works of My mouth,

For he is the craft

Of My hand and mind.

Then silence settles—

A blacksmith's forge cooling to ash.

God lays Adam upon His lap in the sky

And lifts a rib from his side,

A shingle drawn

From a house of dust.

A voice rolls through the heavens,

A hammer shaping thunder:

Adam, smile.

Adam, smile.

Open your eyes, Adam.

Open your eyes.

I have made her—

The one who will make you smile.

Adam, smile.

Adam opens his eyes.

His gaze flashes—

A match striking midnight.

He blinks twice.

Wonder spreads across his face.

Then he says:

Behold, my Lord,

Her name shall be Eve.

A name ringing clear,

Like a bell striking stone.

For she shall be

The mother of life.

God approves the name

And announces the union

To all creation.

His voice strikes the heavens,

A hammer shaping thunder:

Tomorrow,

In the Church of Clouds,

Before angels,

Animals,

Trees,

Mountains,

And all things living and unliving,

I shall declare

Adam and Eve

Husband and wife.

The next morning,

Gabriel takes his place among the hosts.

Trees bend upward.

Mountains lift their stony heads.

Animals turn their eyes to the sky

To witness the wedding in the clouds.

Then God blesses the marriage:

I declare Adam and Eve married.

May they walk together in love.

May they rule with wisdom.

May they replenish the earth

With the fruit of their union.

When the blessing is complete,

God sends Adam and Eve

Into the Garden of Eden.

There they begin life's long journey together.

From their generations

Nations flow across the earth

Like rivers released from a single spring—

Black and white,

And every shade between,

Each carrying

A handful of the first clay.

That is our origin.

Joseph Cimanuka all rights reserved