SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
The genesis of flowers: God let there be
on that third day, ascension of all trees
and plants, each with its own fruit, seeded keys
to future generations, spoken for
and fixed for ever by enamelled law,
a sudden petal burst. He looked and saw
that it was good, gave his great work to man,
the prototype, blue-printed master-plan,
one earth on which all mortal thongs began.
Islands of change, creation splits, divides,
diaspora of species; who decides
which poppy shall grow tallest? Stratified
the fossils mime their fearful narrative;
tortoises, finches, everything that lives
mutates, adapts its newness. Darwin gives
a moving version of that static frame:
divergence, multiplicity ... he names
his great work "Origin". Checkmate. Endgame.
