Readers Write: The Apple Seeds of Eden — ‘A Midrashic story’

0
Readers Write: The Apple Seeds of Eden — ‘A Midrashic story’

The story of the Garden of Eden is a greater allegory than assumed.
Eden was perfect. Adam and Eve were without want,
Their every need was taken care of and satisfied.
Indeed, there was only the pursuit of happiness, and being perfect
Time did not exist in the passing of days.
Lacking the knowledge of death, Adam and Even lived forever.

Exhausted and confused, Adam and Eve sat down at the end
Of a first harrowing day of transgression to ponder an uncertain future.
The seeds of the forbidden apple had already taken root.

Noting the passing of a chill wind on bare skin, they sat in a faint patch
Of starlight and brushed worried hands over heavy foreheads.
What next?

For the first time facing loneliness and terror, hot and cold,
Time and good and evil, Light and Darkness entered their thought.
With a new world to consider, a vast expanse of emptiness took shape.
Facing life, staring at death, ahead lay an immense journey.

I should like to regain that perfection and happiness but…
Out of understanding the hand that wields the plow or pen
Lifts the machine gun to make war as preciously and lovingly.
The conceit is not easy to grasp.

Those who would become gods over life and death
Or harbor devious longings that lack symmetry.
Blinded to the subtle comings and goings of the child at play.
The remarkable beauty of the miracle and mystery of life
As it transpires into old age, crumbled into heaps, crouching over them.
Foreboding the mangled dreams that fill the human heart.

Of perfection… my grey matter made of the dilute works of stars—
Rather, the “I” within—wants for nothing more.

Stephen Cipot
Garden City Park

No posts to display

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here