Eve in the Garden
The serpent twined the untouched limb;
Each shining coil caressed the tree.
His eyes seeming wise and kind,
His lisping speech gently lied.
“You shall not die, but only live
In knowledge, a prize to be desired.
So come and taste the sweet and good,
For sweet has this fruit been to me.”
Thus with lying tongue he sought
To destroy all mankind,
And by his evilly contrived words
Brought to pass the will of God.
Then, trusting as a child trusts,
The woman gladly took the fruit,
And, pressing to her lips, she found
Not sweet but bitter was the taste.
Its substance clear drew back the virgin veil,
That lovely mist which had so long there lain. ,
The eyes of Eve were ‘opened now, at last,
And mortal blood was surging through her veins.
The serpent watched, fire blazing in his eye,
Heart beating to see his evil purpose filled.
“Oh, horrible truth! Foul beast,” she cried, and moved
‘To crush it against the tree. “You lied! You lied!”
But, lightning swift, the deviled serpent
Fled before her wrath.
“What have I done!” The woman fell to earth
And sought to hide her wretched face from God.
“The law is broken; gone, my perfect state.
My faithlessness to him who placed me here
Cuts the deepest into my poor heart.”
And with these half-sobbed words the woman wept.
Thus on Earth was sorrow first conceived,
And Eve gave birth to tears.
Shadows fell across the sun.
The wind began to toss the trees.
She heard the wind no more as song,
But now ’twas strange, forlorn and sad. ‘
She shivered, trembling in the cold
And the fear that clutched her heart.
She rose and searched along the path,
“Adam, Adam,” crying loud.
And, hearing her own voice, she stopped.’
A terror, full ten times her strength,
Fell upon her frightened heart.
She was alone!
For unaware of this strange world
Adam now was lost to her.
No more a part of his dimension
She knew that she must surely die.
She knelt to hide, afraid to pray,
And felt how rough and hard the earth.
She heard his footfall, nearer, nearer, .
And crawled into the brush and grass
To hide her naked body from him.
“What will he say to me?” she thought.
“How great will be his wrath and sorrow
To know I have transgressed the law.
–No! No sorrow can he feel;
No wrath he knows, “she wept the more.
Adam neared with measured step,
Peaceful smile, untroubled brow.
“Come, Eve, the day will fade away
And soon our garden, blessed with rain,
Will renew tomorrow’s day.
Come and walk with me and pray.”
She could not speak, but only wept.
“Come, Eve,” he bent to take her hand.
“Oh no!” she cried. “Pure and holy
Touch me not, for I’m unclean.
Leave me here and let me go
To some far corner, there to stay.
For my eyes are clear and opened.
I see, I hear the mortal sin,
The death and evil in this earth.
I feel a pain within my breast
That rends my very soul in two.
“What, dear Eve, leave you here?
Come, the night will soon be here,
Let us watch the days departure.
She turned her longing eyes to his,
“I tremble as a leaf in wind.
I . . .” she knew he could not know.
“Beware the serpent’s lying tongue.
He seeks to bring you death and hell
As even he has murdered me.
For by the evil in his heart
1 was deceived and ate the fruit
That we have been forbade to touch,
And now has come a change in me
That you, beloved, must never feel.
The law is broken; I must die.
Adam’s face was solemn still,
In thought he bowed his head awhile.
“Then I, too, must eat the fruit,
For you and I must go together.
The greater law was first proclaimed.
We cannot part and keep that law.”
“No!” cried Eve. “You cannot eat.
The earth is evil, cruel, and cold.”
But, Adam only knew the law;
He did not know of “cold” and “cruel.”
He took the fruit and held it thus.
“I know not of what I partake,
But in my heart I know I must.”
He ate the fruit, and as he ate
The furies loosed their bands of storms.
All the skies in anger roared
And sent great torrents, cold and wet,
And lit with lightning, Eden’s hills.
Alone, afraid, the two together
Knelt and knew the trial had come.