Words

(With apologies for the gender-specificity. I wrote this poem based on the creation story told in the Bible, which necessitates a masculine God.)

I have fallen in love
with the sounds of words,
my mouth caressing the juicy
plump roundness of "a" and
"o" and "b";
the curved softness of "p" and
"m" and "n";
the seductive and sensuous
"s" and "l" and "h";
even the spiky sharpness of
"t" and "k"
against my teeth.

This must be, I think,
what it was like for God
when He rolled the doughy world
in His hands and
the Word became flesh.

Did He savor the taste
of every syllable?
Did light melt on His tongue
like a sugary lemon drop?
Did He scoop out the darkness,
sticky and sweet as raw honey,
letting it drip through His fingers
while the new-born stars
hummed and buzzed around Him?

Did He choose the intense, fiery flavors
of peppery Adam and piquant Eve
so that His mouth would tingle
and His eyes burn?
Or, like all adventurous cooks,
did He simply enjoy experimenting
with the recipe?

I do not pretend to know.
I know only that this world
is both sweet and bitter
and that words once spoken
become a part of us forever.