SEEDTIME AND HARVEST
But for the women -- none with a name --
where would the flower and food gardens
have come from at journey's end?
She -- wife of Noah -- could get
no attention: he, busy hurrying
the snails along: "It's not too late";
filling the deep hold with huge
creature pairs: "No room, no room" to her.
It was the same with the wives
of Shem, Ham and Japheth, hammers
in haste against the Flood,
too noisy to hear.
Who but four women found aprons
pocket-room enough to bring on board
what the men had not provided for
seeds and spores, bulbs needing
to be divided for more?
They hover near me in the grass --
four women without a name, yet loved,
and loving a garden as I do,
leaving a whiff of cinnamon
from the carnations they pass.
Ida Fasel
Denver, CO