WALKED OUT OF EDEN

 I seem drawn to Old Testament stories, so here's another one.

my grandfather walked out of Eden

just as it kicked off

all that casting out of paradise

that angel with a flaming sword

grandfather said it looked impressive

in a peevish kind of way

he always claimed

the trouble with that sort of history

was the tendency to focus on the famous

those they had the skinny on

and not him offspring of Lilith

the first wife

the one no one speaks of

or all the others

lost to time now

who were quietly getting on with their lives

while this angry god psychodrama

played out around them

my grandfather walked out of Eden

we are still walking

the world is large

there is room for all 

It came from the first line which bounced about my head for a couple of days before it wrote the poem. Lilith is, according to some sources, the first wife of Adam. When I was at school I could never get my head around the idea that we all came from Eve and Adam. Later I realised that myths, like metaphor, wilt under close scrutiny. I still don't like the idea of casting people out. There's too much of it going on today.

I leave you with Jezebel by Iron and Wine. Another much maligned woman.

Until next time.