January 2019
j.lewis
jim.lewis@jimbabwe.com
Author’s note: I have never been comfortable with the condemnation of Eve as the reason for the suffering in this world, as a dimwit who blindly introduced sin. I have been equally uncomfortable with Adam portrayed as throwing Eve under the bus, with his “she gave me the fruit, wasn’t my idea.” I see them as being much more than that. Their story is the ultimate love story. How many men would give up paradise, for love?
 
beginning

​
loneliness was never heaven's plan
so adam, first man
was made more by the addition
of eve, first woman
 
loveliness was always in the plan
and eden is recorded
as lovely past belief
where everything beautiful
was the backdrop for the play
the unfolding of a jealous plot
 
commandments were given
to the god-joined pair
and they willingly complied
until the serpent lied
denied what god had said of death
wrapped his deceit
in the glorious truth
that knowledge of good and evil
is god-like, skipping over choice
and consequence...
 
eve, in innocence deceived
reached for heaven, former home
but fell, had to tell adam
what she now grasped
that only by the depths of sorrow
could they measure the heights of joy
 
adam, determined to obey
refused at first to taste
what eve now knew
until she, his only delight
explained in wiser words
if you, obedient,
remain in paradise
i, disobedient
must leave alone
and loneliness
was never in the plan–
there will be no man
no woman after us
 
God, knowing his young children might
in their innocence and ignorance
fall and want redeeming
called them out of hiding
gently chiding
leading them to confess
 
think of father adam
not hiding from the blame
but explaining his choice–
you gave me the woman
said she should remain
with me and i with her;
i could not bear
loneliness again
so in full freedom
i chose her, over eden ​
© 2019 j.lewis
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