Without apples and snakes

The garden of Eden

without apples and snakes

is a lie

But we

who are educated

still seek for this perfection

that even at the sight of an apple

call it an orange

and at the sight of a snake

call it a rabbit

Until our children

who are innocent

eat those oranges

and listen to those rabbits

They uncover the truth

and blame us for not telling them

and leave us for it

Only then

when it's too late

we taste the lusciousness of the apples

and the poison of the snakes

and say, "this is life"

But then we die.

Comments: 4

John Doyle Apr 3, 2008, 11:36pm EDT

We seek perfection because we are told we are imperfect. Perhaps if we eliminated the former, the stress of the latter would just fade away

reply to this comment

Kamran Qureshi Apr 4, 2008, 5:04am EDT

Terrific poem, Richie! I like you style and agree with you here. If not all, it is part of the problem. Regards

reply to this comment

Larry M. Apr 4, 2008, 7:28am EDT

We could be living in a Garden of Eden (in comparison to the way we live now). The way to bring that about is detailed in Invisible Hand here on Gather.

We can change in the way the book lays out, or we can suffer.

reply to this comment

*Holly *. Apr 4, 2008, 10:37am EDT

Wonderful!

reply to this comment

Without apples and snakes

Comments: 4

Join the Conversation

You might also like

More by Richie Montalbo