The promise

After Genesis 3:1-19

To be promised a bruise,

a bruise on another’s heel,

is odd, I know, and unusual,

I know, for somehow a bruise

on another’s heel becomes

the sign of the way out,

our way out,

the light at the end of the tunnel,

our light at the end,

and it’s where the bruise happens,

on that heel.

Photograph by Fabrizio Verrecchia via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Blame: a trilogy

After Genesis 3:1-19

The questions fly:

Who did this

what have you done

did you do what

I told you not to do

who told you

you were naked

It was the woman 

you gave me

(clever: a double denial,

a double shift: blame

the woman and blame

the One who gave 

the woman)

It was the serpent

who deceived me

with his slithering

words (aka, the devil

made me do it)

The serpent says nothing

but he smirks.

The condemnation flows

in reverse order:

   a curse of position

   a curse of pain

   a curse of labor, of work

   of toil, of sweat

a curse of dust

raised from dust

returned to dust

and a promise:

to be continued.

Photograph by Frederica Giusti via Unsplash. Used with permission.

A strange beauty

After Genesis 3:1-19

A strange beauty

the tree possessed,

shimmering in the light.

a shimmering so intense

that it beckoned, singing

its song, its promise,

its fruit so enticing,

so forbidden.

A hand reaches,

the fruit is touched,

plucked

tasted

eaten

consumed

The eyes open

the heart closes

Photograph by Veterzy via Unsplash. Used with permission.

To hear that sound

After Genesis 3:1-19

To hear that sound

in the garden, of walking

in the garden, a music

in its own way, beautiful

yet ominous, terrible

and fierce, to hear

those footsteps is

to revere, to hear

those footsteps is

to fear, they move

with purpose, not idly 

to smell the flowers

but deliberately

in the knowledge

of what has happened.

Photograph by Fachy Marin via Unsplash. Used with permission.