NILE

When God
	first formed
		the crocodile,

He started 
	with
		a rotted log
and fitted it
	with 	
		two round marble eyes
to watch motionless
	the murky Nile
flowing between
straight tall reeds.

The tan brown currents,
with swirl,
make his fitting home,
and stinking of things
long dead, it is the proper place
for
the sudden grab
upward
from the dark,

The crush
of white teeth
into
frightened flesh
and bone,
hearing not
the sighing heave
of a dying special thing, one miracle
ending
another.

Such 
is required
by reptilian reputation,
part of an ancient contract,
decided on long ago

When God first dreamed
of the crocodile.