When God Created Day and Night

When God created

water and land,

it was not just water

and land—

but marshes,

swamps thick with green algae,

floating islands,

coral reefs,

seagrass meadows.

and what of the ocean

that once was waves,

where land was born

of rising heat and volcanic ash?

can ocean become land—

and land, ocean?

and who gave it such permission?

When God created

land animals and sea creatures,

it was never just land animals

and sea creatures

but fish that fly 

and mammals that dive. 

is  the blue whale,

who pulls its oxygen,

from the air,

land or sea?

and what of the amphibians,

who swim as fish but grow legs,

and learn to walk and crawl—

unwilling to abide the restrictions 

given them at birth

are they of water or earth?

When God created

those that wander 

and those that fly,

God did not just

create those that wander

or fly, but

mammals with wings

and birds without flight. 

should flightless birds

think less of themselves

because they cannot fly?

When God created

night and day,

God did not settle

for night and day—

but painted

sunsets and sunrises,

and called us

to walk the shoreline

as the sun slips

beneath the waves.

it is not the darkest night,

nor the brightest noonday,

that we paint

or sit by fires

in awe.

it’s the sunset—

for all its color,

it's quiet rebellion,

the brilliance

that comes

when night and day

refuse to abide

binary states.

should we ban all sunsets 

and sunrises

and their rainbow shades,

for they refuse to be 

neither day or night

but something else—

something beautiful?

And when God created

male and female…