More Anomalies A – Z: Zamzummim

That too was considered a land of the Rephaim, who used to live there; but the Ammonites called them Zamzummim.  They were a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakim. The Lord destroyed them from before the Ammonites, who drove them out and settled in their place. – Deuteronomy 2: 20 – 21

This land was inhabited by giants
once, long ago, near the beginning,
from Arabella to Aqaba.

Excavators occasionally bring their bones to the surface;
grossly oversized in limb and length,
how they must have towered over the land,

straddling the geological rift
and shaking the earth with their strides.

They were bold and strong.

But that was long ago,
before the waters came
and they were destroyed.

Four hundred and nine thousand all,
drowned, or crushed in the crash of waves
against stone peaks.
Tall as they were, they were not tall enough.

The giants are gone,
but their enfeebled spirits linger -
those few who escaped the chains of Tartarus;
you can hear them buzzing in the heat
of long summer nights,

the last mummers of their dying speech.

This is my third completed pass through the alphabet with these anomalies.  You can read through them all here, if you like.