Adam arrived and called Eve
to join him for dinner.
She did and they feasted well
in the beginning of the great deep.
Together they cavorted and played
and made love while merry.
Cain and Abel arrived
and the merriment ceased.
They bickered and fought and competed
for their place in the sun.
The gods who made them fought and bickered
for Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel
were what their gods had made.
Together, altogether the merriment stopped
and serious business was on the agenda.
Serious business like power games and
competition and who was going to be king of the mountain.
For in a new kingdom with no memory of home,
they did not remember who they were.
Altogether now, altogether,
we follow the prophets as they wrote history
from memory, eliminating curious details such as
why? when? and what for?
Nowhere do we find the fact that Adam
aged and became paunchy while his liver became swollen
with the fruits of the vine made soluble.
Nowhere do we scan the real dilemma for Lady Eve.
The voices shouted her guilt
in eating the forbidden fruit of knowledge,
for all hell broke loose when the woman claimed
her innate intelligence. Lady Eve, of course,
assumed the guilt because of course they all said
she was guilty. Did her god speak to her?
Was she told `not! not! Eve, bad! bad!?
Or did she simply see that food was needed
for dinner and what was at hand was easier
than getting a basket and going marketing in the woods.
Since everything was good in the world where she was,
‘not good’ was outside her frame of reference.
The apple tree was there so Eve picked a ripe apple
and shared it with Adam. Since Adam wanted
to get on with other things, we must chalk up one
for woman’s practicality. Only now we realize
that Adam could have rejected her offer.
Had there been an ordinance against eating apples,
perhaps it would have been easier to understand.
With no memory of home, it was with enormous courage
Eve came to earth where her god was not.
The no! no! she possibly heard
stopped her long enough one would suppose
to take responsibility for a decision
which proved delicious to the palate.
They ate the apple with gusto.
The `why?’ went unanswered to satisfaction
and the `because I said so!’ has been heard
by every child ‘s query since.
And that started the gods speaking the parts
and the players rehearsing their own methods
so they could become gods on their own.
And a potpourri of too many words still unclear
cluttered the air waves and chaos ensued.
For who was bright enough to discern all the yodeling?
Except maybe Eve.
So knowledge was born and the ability to test
first hand all things on earth, uncontaminated.
It was unspoiled, unpolluted and all good
for the human species. Eve was the originator
of the hands on policy. She taught us
that the exigency of the moment is best met
with what we possess and the moment of decision
will announce who we are.
So Eve’s god had a hard time with her,
for a woman of knowledge claimed her right.
She had the ability to make a judgment which
was to become valid.
We still eat apples, don’t we?
