Last wistful sighs resign last fretful looks;

Our Predecessor bends to clasp from trunk

Of Oak the Ivy's climb the bough to reach.

Yearning her looks and smiles the whisp'ring wind

Her murmurs mock. Her intercourse. Limbs rub

And moan: lichen and mosses moistly clad.

The brimming stream o'er hanging boughs fond notes

Conveys; melodies waft aloft and fade

Where poignant Adam at the ford still stands.

Upon its rushing current diamonds

His eyes bright mesmerize; and mildewed dung

Of herds and flocks his nostrils clot. Unclad,

His feet pay worship deep the wholesome mud

Which pulls and sucks his parting to restrain.

A splash! The heron's neck unfolds, withdraws

Her submerged head, returns to statue pose,

Posted in the marsh-fringed pool below.

Frogs leap and soar into bulrush clusters;

Rooks and crows diminish to shrieking clouds;

His eyes downcast, sad Adam rests alone.

        Around his limbs the purifying, stained

Blue-red waters distil the muck. A dove

Designed perfect for flight invites his sight

Upstream. Overshadowed with burdened vines

Ripened with globes of ebon blood the flow

Wantonly bleeds and tunnels. Expiated,

Adam crosses over. Scented breezes

Angel tears blow and dry his legs. The path

Up Elm Hill traced by deer heads towards

The Garden's centre, hemming neat the stream.

A patch of mockingbirds annul their flight,

Heralding Adam with their cries of help,

Help, HELP.

        Concerned, Adam wonders what

Ill Eve, not capable of death or pain,

As Satan's prey incurs. Concerned, now

Adam hastens along the path to shield

His Love from Satan's fraud rupturing green

Eden's rapture respectfully God's will

To stay. Adam, still bent on speed, erupts

Into the glade around the Tree of Fruit

Forbidden, spreading clusters of hogs. In fear

Of his immortal Master's rage, a Lion

Despoiling a pair of deer takes hasty flight.

        Oh Adam my Redeemer, Saviour

And Lord of animals, Divine and Good,

Oh hear my plight. Through fate these words I speak

With words provided thoughts confused make known:

Words: currency of sense and feelings. Lord,

By chance I ate the sacred fruit with him,

Lying nearby, my husband, dear, and son.

Inadvertently we crossed the water

By succulent breezes and squeals ensnared

To fallen fruit, and greedily ate thereof,

Joining the Lion and hogs. Enraged, the lion

Ravaged to death my mate inseparable

And tore asunder my nether being. Unknown,

Death now lies there; I bleed and too shall die

If not fruit of the Tree of Life I eat,

Appeals the doe. In answer Adam speaks.

        Hath God not said I AM eternity,

From Me the universe ordained derived,

All creatures divine in My potency

Created free, free of Will not deprived?

Should not thee live unconsciously corrupted

By eating fallen fruit forbidden us?

My loving deer, my graceful doe unwonted

In this sad plight, the Lion with murderous

Intent thy body rent. Let just wisdom

Decide our choice and glad our Father make.

The Tree of Life provides this fruit, become

Complete and eat, lest thou thy life forsake.

    Images delirious form thy body supine,

    Woman in unity art thou too mine?

        Conjured, the doe transforms to woman sweet

While fallen eagles spirit the buck away.

Adam not unamazed steps back to flee;

She falls onto her knees, and grasps his legs

With natural passion, praying face uplifted

His succour yield. Mysterious is God's

Sagacity in all our destinies; God's

Handling emerges to foil incestuous

Nepotism's destruction, firmly resolved

Each organism increases and multiplies;

Redeem your sons to mingle my seed with Eve's!

        How art thou now a beautiful woman,

Eyes blue as Eden's noon skies mesmerize

Enamouring my hidden, tender soul,

Speaking with reasoned ardour cogent words

Inciting and stirring this unusual desire?

        Nourished from fruit the Tree of Knowledge gifted

Enlightenment I have acquired: words

Rhetoric, Tropes, and Figures cast harmonic

All patterned by numbered measure sublime;

The Tree of Life Eternal, God's image.

My name is Dawn since eyes, adoring, glimpsed

Thy sunrise ablutions, adorned with wreaths;

Adoring eyes begat unverbalized,

Conflicted sighs, not thought, unconsummated,

As words me escaped. A roar! The Lion returns!

Quickly, Adam! Flee! Flee with me in haste.

        Dawn leads; Adam follows; and Dawn follows

When Adam leads unto a hilltop ground,

Circled in adequate wideness athwart

By reddish-brown Arbutus and slender Pine,

Focused on a slated knoll. This altar she

Manages as Adam mounts in celestial

Sacrament Dawn's heathen Gods to revere;

Blue jays assemble as grouse thickets disperse;

Hooded woodpeckers their tight drums abuse;

Now Day her height attains, and o'er Eden

The Sun remains immobile sinners to watch:

Exhausted bodies intertwined, they rest.

        Much wondering how delight intensifies

Smiling vitally forgetting what to say;

Passion and love survives never denied;

I must get back to Eve our noon repast

partake. His natural joys sinlessly

Satisfied, our Father walks away.

        An azure haze of blue, reflecting God's

Adoring countable stars, envelops her

Image and carries her victorious

To mountain shadows sheltering her son.

Sacred mother, speaks Death, I am wounded;

The Seraphim shielding the Tree of Life

Repelled my hastily cast dart back unto

My manly parts rendering me impotent:

In time's eternal womb I also wane.

        Son, from the mist that bore me here I saw

Our Father on a brook encircled Isle

Lolling in conjugal embrace with Eve.

She bears our brother Cain, speaks Sin. I bear

Your sister Morgan, his intended wife.

From now together, Sin and Death will reign

Their progeny to cleanse as God resolves.

We cannot stop mankind's ordained rise

In God's hierarchy; created sublime

In God's image, His love never alters.

Eternity 's before us; come let us

Present Father our bridge 'cross Chaos to hell,

Thereby his love and admiration gain

To take his blessing 'til the day foreseen

When mingled seed, incest atoned pure,

Cleansed chaste, receives God's impregnation.

      Man irrational pride's envy derived

      Jointly with reason His Son deified.

© Elmer Wiens