Eve's Choice
Ah, now I know of fair Eve's plight
Of the toil and turmoil in her troubled mind
Of how when she first upon that fruit cast her eye
And dared to long for what was denied
What a price fair Eve paid for that which she sought
To know good and bad with her life the answer she bought
And in the end what she did receive or so thought
Of no avail proved to be for all came to naught
But would she have longed for and craved to bite
That fair fruit so round, so red, so bright
Had that succulent morsel to her been not denied
And that to eat of it had been her right
Had she waited for that fateful fruit to fall
Perhaps she would not have sinned at all
And so prompt God on her to call
And pronounce the sentence that condemned us all
How that one act of desire did bring her pain
And how great the lost she could never regain
Of life eternal under God's reign
Condemned to a life of anguish and pain
Gone was the garden bathed in God's light
Where the scent of jasmine clothed the night
Of singing birds, the morning's delight
Never to be recalled, try as she might
Gone the music of heaven's wind in the trees
Lost forever worry less peace
And with these, sweet innocence
All gone in a moment so fleet
Ah, sweet Eve, mother of us all
I wish I could upon your essence call
And ask of you and you would tell
Of that moment of that great fall
Yes, I would solemnly ask of you
Knowing full well what you were about to do
Of the consequences that would befall you
Still your heart's desire you did pursue
An act for which you would be reviled
For all eternity mankind would you deride
And foolish you would remain in their eyes
For an act so brash, so wicked, so vile
Yet I see you not as foolish or vain
Not after wanton, selfish gain
But bent on what you must attain
Then bear in silence your pain
For what was done and then called sin
Though the story of that fabled garden
Speaks of only you and Adam
There must have dwelt therein
Yet one more though unnamed
Who somehow to your heart lay claim
For what woman would bear such pain
For anything less to gain
So with the love your heart was smitten
And in the quiet corners of that garden
You did meet, in corridors well hidden
And consummated your love, the thing forbidden.
What became of him we shall never know
Of how he came or means by which he had to go
Banished to some deep, dark, bottomless hold
Or sentenced to the eternal pits far below
Banished forever by the eternal powers divine
Forced to flee and to leave behind
The woman for whom his heart would forever pine
For he, too, relinquished the garden divine
Ah, so much lost for a moment so fleet
Two lives forever changed when they chanced to meet
But what fires burned in that instant so sweet
And with it thereby made mind and heart replete
And so now, fair Eve, I would ask of you
For all the years of anguish that did befall you
For that one taste of love, wild, free, and true
Given the chance again, fair lady, what would you do?
--And now you know the whole story!
-Seen it all, done it all, can't remember most of it-
