"Because you have done this,
cursed are you among all animals and among all wild creatures;
upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel."* Genesis 3:14-15

oh my dear eve
to be young and stupid with you
to be stillborn naked into a cold world
mouth full of rotten fruit
the taste of broken promises and half-truths
what I wouldn’t give to sleep naive
next to you and under a tree
to see God and myself hidden shyly behind fig leafs
to name animals and constellations
to experience lust and love
all at once
and without a whimper, concede to those foolish temptations
but you speak softly to brother snake
and every morning before I wake up
you slither away
it must be that fiend, that belly-down devil
who took you from me
oh, if only i or God were so convincing
but politely wincing,
a gentleman retreating
i press knowledge to my lips
and follow you, head down
out of heaven
And into a neverending
eternal
Hell.