Eve

Antoine Wiertz

Eve Experiencing Her First
Guilt After Sinning

Eve

No petals

to scent passively

the breeze

or leaves

to move submissive

toward the sun

no roots

to hold me firmly

in my place

no graceful frond

no seeds

I can tell you

that garden

expelled me

for a misfit

long before

its Gardener

cast me out

And then,

there was

The Voice.

Shall I tell you

what it was

to listen?

How beyond

impossible it was

to turn away?

It was not the

unexpected

conversation

nor the

surprise

of intelligence

within his eyes

that beguiled me

It was that

he spoke to

me

at all

as though

I were more

than an afterthought

provoked to pacify

The Man
or a secondhand rib

to cloak in

lesser flesh

And it was that

he seemed

to know

the mysterious

longing

that rose unbidden

each time I saw

the vixen close

with her kits

or the ewe

with her lamb

And that he knew

with what boredom

I watched alone

flowers and fruit

grown unaided

as the days

droned on

same after same

no change

no end

in sight

And so I took

the fruit

he offered

and found it sweet

a grace upon

my tongue

and marveled

at so many

seeds

And desire

quickened and

crawled

deep in my belly

for the first time

And I recalled

the pink flesh

of the fig

and sought

her out

and took

her leaves

to cover my

surprise of

rosy nipples

and the secret

that awakened

warm and dark

between

my thighs

but it was never to

hide

from the Gardener

and his disfavour

that

I so adorned myself

I did it to entice

The Man

that he might

savour

that sweetness

of my flesh that

he had never

guessed

I didn’t even mind

when the henchmen

came with their

fiery swords

to bind the

garden gates

and cast us out

Truth to tell

I never liked

strolling

with the Gardener

always a pace

behind

him and The Man

never knowing

what they said

never knowing

what to say

never daring

to ask

never understanding

why I was

something

he thought of

last

All said

all done

I’d do it again

just to feel

that intoxicating

rush

of my blood

when I first knew

I could cause

The Man

to tremble

as I held him

riding the night

within me

or

to see

the sweet

pursed lips of

Cain

innocent and new

as he suckled

at my breast

like the vixen

with her kits

so long ago

or

to watch

the thriving

fruit tree

that sprouted

up from

those seeds

I carried

with me

I never wept

and never lost

a thing

they all have lied

who said I fell

I didn’t fall

from anywhere

I leapt

~ Angel ~