Creation

Genesis 1-2

Dark the void, and still throughout,
For nothing is, and nothing less.
Silence permeates about
The boundless, minute emptiness.

Darkness, silence, all before
The march of time is yet begun.
Unformed, unshaped, and nothing more.
Nothing is — except for One.

This One is God and here creates
The shapes of matter, atoms, earth.
Withal the darkness saturates,
Unseen, unheard, the planet's birth.

The world is thus without its form
Countless fathoms deep, the sea.
No wind to stir up waves in storm.
His Spirit hovers peacefully.

Without a start, without an end
He Is and Was Eternity
Then into void His Word did send
The first commandment: “Let there be…

Light.” And Darkness split at last!
And time began its wheeling course.
The void dissolved, the silence past:
This Word an overwhelming force.

Such as was not there, now it was.
Though light was nothing ere He spoke,
His Word is true in all He does.
So “Light!” He said, thus light awoke.

The One had made the light, and so
It burned and glimmered as it should.
From fiercest flare to gentlest glow
It showed His nature: it was Good.

Then on the untamed luminance
His Word imposed an ordered way.
The dark and light divided thence:
He called one “Night.” The other, “Day.”

So evening was, and evening passed.
Morning came, and morning went.
When evening came again at last,
The first created day was spent.

…

Then to th’ unfathomed depths His Word
Declared in timbre deeper yet,
“Let there be…” (the ocean stirred)
“Between you now…” (the waters fret)

“A great expanse to separate
The waters here from those on high."
The glooming depths reverberate
The name that He imparts then: "Sky"

A sudden rush to drown the skies!
The wind and waves His Word revere,
And half the waters vaporize
Above to form the atmosphere.

As argent crystal shone the clouds
In heaven’s gleaming sapphire vault.
Gargantuan columned vapor shrouds
Mount up, their Maker to exalt.

And as primeval planet turns
This earthround lens transforms the light
From cobalt then to scarlet burns
To fade to violet, darkness, night.

So evening was, and evening passed.
Morning came, and morning went.
When evening came again at last,
The second perfect day was spent.

…

Then His Word proclaimed anew,
“Let the waters gather down,
Let the forming land break through.”
And so it happened, blue and brown.

A thunderous roar, the clouds are rent,
The ocean churns to white
As island, ridge, and continent
Upheave into the moonlight.

As crimson liquid fire glows
The earth takes form, solidifies.
Alight by searing magma flows
The towering mountains rise.

The One thus named them, “Earth” and “Sea”
And they had fashioned as they should.
From trackless waves to widest lea
They showed His nature: they were Good.

The steam dews. The stones crack and cool.
Proud waves grind at gleaming coasts.
Yet hidden cave or secret pool
No less His glory boasts.

His Word in power addressed the ground
Commanding plants and trees to spring,
That flowers, grass, and leaves abound,
And each obeyed in everything.

The ground splits. The rich black soil stirs
New colors, verdant, vibrant, keen.
The slightest blooms, the lordly firs
Erupt in splendor opaline.

The One conceived them all, and so
They all would burgeon as they should.
Failing nothing, each would grow,
And show His nature: each was Good.

So evening was, and evening passed.
Morning came, and morning went.
When evening came again at last,
The third exalted day was spent.

…

Then the One Who formed the light
And set Time in its motion
Turned to speak again to bright
And vast celestial ocean,

“Let this light that permeates
Now gather to a source.”
And many more He then creates,
While setting each their finite course.

“The Sun - the greater - guards the Day.
The Moon - reflecting - holds the Night.
A trillion trillion stars.” Away
He scattered them into the height.

Glory! Glory! cry the stars
Arrayed in splendor to the eye
Their silent song unending bars
His name above to edify.

With power untold, the plasma Sun
Flares out to echo joyous praise
And even after day is done,
Auroras dance in emerald blaze.

“I fix a path for stellar spheres,
From sky to sky they’ll wander:
Signs for seasons, days, and years
The wise to watch and ponder.”

The stars and Sun of nuclear flame
To designated orbits went.
His work was Good, the evening came.
The fourth inspired day was spent.

…

Moonlight glimmered on the crest
Of waves that tossed and glistened.
Spoke the Word to them and blessed
As all creation listened,

“Swarm, O waters! Life, come forth!”
Then skyward turned God’s eyes,
“Let birds now scatter south and north.
Fill the oceans! Fill the skies!”

As thus He spoke — His mind alight
With feather, talon, wing,
With scale and fin — now in His sight
These myriad creatures came to being.

The sky was filled with gliding hordes,
The water writhed and boiled.
In trenches far from sunlit fords,
Leviathans uncoiled.

“Be fruitful now, and multiply.”
As the Word declared, they would.
Because He made them, naught awry,
They revealed His nature: Good.

So evening was, and evening passed.
Morning came, and morning went.
When evening came again at last,
The fifth appointed day was spent.

…

Beneath the stars to twilit loam
The Word arose to say,
“Let the earth bring forth to roam
Its living beasts in full array.”

Thus formed the crawling, secret thing,
And beasts of hooves and paws.
Behemoths’ proud step sundering
The ground beneath their claws.

The One had made them all, and so
Without a blemish there they stood.
Whither on the earth they’d go
They’d proclaim His nature: Good.

Thus far He’d crafted Night and Day,
Land and Sea, fish and bird,
Trees and grass, beasts to play.
Every creature by His Word.

But in the fields no grain nor fruit,
Nor berries sweet in briars,
Vine nor any planted shoot
That husbandry requires.

And for those wild plants that grew
Created on the third
Their water came from mist and dew,
Thus far the falling rain demurred.

As the stars wheel in the night
The Father of Foundation,
Spirit filled with all delight,
Approves His Word’s Creation.

Elohim of elohim,
The concert God, Beyond, Before.
He speaks again, His mind a gleam
His Spirit joy, His Word still more,

“Now let us make Man in our sight,
To see, to know, to live.
The image of Ourself, delight,
And yet an Other, cognitive.”

Then with His own immortal hand
The Father reached and smote
The reddened earth. With molded sand
This new expression wrote:

A heart to feel like to His own.
Around it, lungs to breathe.
Then sinews, bowels, flesh, and bone,
With skin about to wreathe.

It lay there, not alive as yet,
No motion graced its limbs.
An incomplete, a silhouette
Of secret, unsung hymns.

Then God inhaled, Creation stilled
The stars near-ceased to wheel
For thus they all will be fulfilled
Their Purpose to reveal.

Then God exhaled, His Spirit roared
His Word in power passed
Into the earthen lungs was poured
True Life, to ever last.

A newmade spirit coalesced,
Alike and yet unlike its Maker.
A soul indwelt this earthborn breast
And breathed, its new caretaker.

Now with this creature newly made
The One prepared for him a home
Toward the East, in Eden stayed
His fruitful hand, enriched the loam.

From this He summoned garden fair,
Beyond the wild plants He’d sent.
Exceeding beauty and to spare,
And fruitful without precedent.

Every tree was grown with care,
Without a single leaf unthought,
And bush and vine with fruit to share
For food and beauty sought.

Last of all two trees He grows:
The one with fruit of Life eternal,
The other — knowledge it bestows
Of Good against what is Infernal.

This region braced a river’s shore
Whose waters Eden’s blossoms grew,
From thence divided into four
The land about was flowing through.

Through Havilah flowed the first: Pishon.
Much gold (and pure) was in that place.
Bdellium myrrh and Onyx stone,
The land itself a dazzling grace.

The second, Gihon, flowed ‘round Cush.
The Third, Tigris, in Ashur’s east.
And fourth — Euphrates — watered bush
And cooled the thirst of land and beast.

All this was done in God's own thought
Already as the man awoke,
And as he gazed with eyes new-wrought,
To his new ears God spoke,

He told him who he was, and Whose,
That He'd made him, and why:
To show His nature, think, and choose,
To learn, to love, to glorify.

The mind He'd made received these words
And formed then more beside.
Unlike the beasts, unlike the birds,
The man’s heart listened and replied.

He brought him then to Eden's lawn
And showed him still more beauty.
As the sky turned unto dawn
He gifted him his duty,

“This garden here, the orchards, fields
I give to you, abundant food.
By joyful work the crops it yields
Again will ever be renewed.

“But hear! This tree in midst of wood,
Bears fruit whose flesh disgorges this:
What stands against My nature, Good,
What to your Soul is poisonous.

“And therefore, now I tell you sure,
Though it is pleasant to the eye,
A single morsel, I adjure
You do not eat, or you shall die.”

The man paused. He heard God’s voice,
With a blessing, now a warning.
A new thing. A given choice,
Forever bliss or mourning.

With his mind still new, yet deep
He thought, conceived, and understood.
With joy he yielded then to keep
This word commanded for his good.

Then the sunrise broke the night,
The land unveiled and shone.
The man was awed, filled with delight,
But also stood alone.

And thus the One had made him be
But would not make him stay:
In providential wisdom He
Had not completed work that day.

“It is not good until the man
Has yet another heart to know,
To share his work with, make and plan,
To correspond his nature, so

Another soon, though yet unborn,
Will wake: My nature full-displayed.”
For though He’d made a man that morn
Not yet had Man been made.

But one more task had first be done
To show the man his sense of need,
So from the earth there brought the One
Each bird and beast His Word decreed.

The man received them, then perceived
That each had each its own in pair.
He named each kind, but unrelieved
A yearning grew: his heart to share.

So as the sun drew near to eve
And all the beasts were named,
The One brought sleep about to weave
The man in rest, by stillness claimed.

And thus again in dust he lay
As when he first had warmed.
The One reached out, his side to splay
The flesh, thereby transformed.

Then from this wound He’d loving done
The One withdrew a single bone,
A rib near heartbeat He’d begun
The seed of life soon grown.

The wound He closed, the rib He held,
And in the deep’ning orchard shade
About the bone began to meld
One last creation, thus delayed.

A heart to feel like to His own
And arms to work and hold.
Legs to leap, joy yet unknown,
To dance, carefree and bold.

A soul He breathed, a moment when
A spark possessed the fingers
Lungs expel His breath and then
In-draw their own, it lingers.

Eyelids part, and then a blaze
Of joy which none is greater.
Eyes which for the first time gaze
In those of her Creator.

She rose and felt the stirring air,
Her mind took in creation.
God spoke wisdom to declare
The truth of her formation.

He told her who she was, and Whose,
That He’d made her, and why.
To show His nature, think, and choose
To learn, to love, to glorify.

Then of the man with joy He spoke
As her companion soon to be,
His laugh, his words, to love evoke
Within her spirit longingly.

Intrigued, she followed as He led,
And shadows lengthen under boughs.
The amber sunbeams further spread
Her sight with beauty to arouse.

As dust motes glinted in the glow,
The One approached the man and cried
Aloud to wake! to rise! to know
His true companion, soon beside.

She saw him then as up he stood,
Her heartbeat with him seemed to rise.
Then he saw her and scarcely could
Believe the vision in his eyes.

The westering sun a golden flame
To light what each in each first saw:
Her joyful eyes, his hearty frame,
Her curves, his brow, her limbs, his awe.

A moment passed...a moment more.
Their souls each other recognized
From whispered breath to deepest core,
Their Maker's form uncompromised.

At last the man his mind confessed,
A hymn possessed his heart.
He reached his hand, she held it pressed,
His words their life combined to start:

“Now here at last is bone of my own bone,
And fashioned in a glorious way is she!
Unlike the beasts and birds I was alone
But now in work and rest I’ll never be.
“And surely here is flesh of my own flesh
Yet vastly more her beauty glows than mine!
Our spirits long to meet, our souls enmesh
Our bodies yearn to meld, in ardor twine.
“And ‘woman’ hence in time she shall be called
And I a ‘man’ delight in her caress,
By every word, and laugh of hers enthralled:
By her alluring form and grace no less!
Because this one was taken out of man
In her has God fulfilled what He began.”

Man and Woman, known and claimed
Each other intimately bare.
Unclothed they walked, and unashamed
As sunset cooled the dancing air.

For this, a union blessed by He
Who formed their bodies and their souls,
To join in hallowed ecstasy.
A oneness fierce as fire’s coals.

And thus the One ordained for all
The nations destined then to build
A covenant that would not fall,
His artistry fulfilled.

A man shall leave his parents’ law
And to a woman be espoused.
As husband, wife together draw
Their life conjoined, one love aroused.

Now on this family born that hour
The One proclaimed a blessing and
A mandate to reflect His power,
Restated He their purpose grand,

He told them who they were, and Whose,
That He made them, and why.
To show His nature, think, and choose
To learn, to love, to glorify.

“Be fruitful now, and multiply,
Subdue the earth and sea to reign.
The beasts who swim, and crawl, and fly
Are your dominion, I ordain.

“For you and they I give to eat
Each plant and tree, each vine and shoot,
The earth abundantly replete
With choicest, sweetest fruit.”

Thus the One fulfilled His Word
To make Man in His sight.
His image born, two voices heard,
The sun descends, so comes the night.

Here is the work which God had wrought
Accounted, forged to His content.
All very good in sight and thought:
The sixth abounding day was spent.

…

And finally the seventh day
The One esteemed the World complete.
Then rested He, and watched at play
The universe He’d formed, and sweet

The sound of laughter, love between
The two He’d given to explore.
A blessing then, one evergreen
He gave, this day to underscore:

A time of rest. A time of peace.
A time of family, friend, and love.
A time to listen, share, and cease
All toil and ponder God above.

Thus evening was and evening passed.
Morning came, and morning went.
When evening came again at last
The seventh, final day was spent.

…

And So To Dust

Those days the husband and the wife
Enjoyed the fruit of Eden’s gift
Within their hearts the joy of life
Flowed out, a fountain clear and swift.

Delightful each new sunset seemed
And sunrise golden rays conveyed.
Each glist of dew with fire gleamed
As though the stars on earth displayed.

And every noon beneath the limb
Of shadowed tree they’d stand and gaze
At far horizon, blue and dim
To talk and plan of future days:

Perhaps a year they’d walk the hills
And then they’d wander more
Explore or stay as each day wills
And go where they’d not been before.

They spoke of children soon to be,
Descendents, cities, family, friends.
They spoke of decades, patiently
To see how far the world extends.

Each day their knowledge grew apace,
Examining, discovering.
The Maker’s care in nature’s grace,
In their delight uncovering.

Thus as the One had made them both
Their purpose full expressed thereby
In wisdom, thought, delight, and growth:
To learn, to love, to glorify.

But while the two beloved wended
Days and nights in beauty’s path,
There was another who extended
Naught to them but kindled wrath.

The Adversary

Sometime before God made the hosts
Of Heaven, those who serve His name,
Perhaps when stars flew to their posts
Perhaps at light’s first kindled flame.

But though to Man a mystery
These hosts indeed God also made
And of them all resplendently
The Shining One, a cherub, prayed.

While thus in honor though engaged
He held resentment in his thought
It grew until at last enraged
Rebellion he fomented, fought

And lost. In power does not he
Compare to sovereign Lord of All.
So thus it went, in summary:
The Adversary’s pride and fall.

The “Adversary” — satan — comes
To Eden’s garden dithering.
His creeping jealousy succumbs
To baleful venom, withering

The remnant of God’s light in him.
The Shining One outward remains
But inward — broken, spiteful, dim.
He forfeits all, and nothing gains.

Although he was created being
Apart from mortal Man he stood.
And more than wild beasts his cunning,
Bent to ruin what he could.

While thus enminded of defeat
He sheltered down in Eden’s shade
And in the throes of his conceit
He sought the humans God had made.

He watched. He festered. And he waited
For an opportunity
To break God’s heart, for his unsated
Malice break their unity.

One day as man and woman strode
In midst of orchard, under sky,
The Shining One arose and showed
His face and called them nigh.

That tree which evil, good endows
The knowledge of, beneath he sat.
And there, enshadowed by its boughs,
This sweet and deadly venom spat:

“I’ve heard God constrained upon you
Not to sample any fruit of paradise.
An evil command! Is it true?
Such cruelty, that frigid heart of ice.”

The woman wondered at his word.
In thoughtfulness, she closer tread.
The man, nearby, had also heard:
He looked at her, and nothing said.

She answered bold the question asked:
“All fruit indeed from garden’s soil
Was made for us to eat, and tasked
Are we to tend in gladsome toil.

But part of what you say is true,
There is one fruit we may not eat.
This very tree which shadows you
Has bounty that, though doubtless sweet

Must not be tasted — nor yet touched!
For on the day which this is done
Our lives are forfeit, death-enclutched.
We will not eat, nor anyone.”

The Adversary’s subtle eyes,
Possessed with all a serpent’s guile,
Concealed the fervor of his lies.
He spoke again, and laughed the while:

“So trusting are you both! Fair to see!
But lost and woeful! Though unaware.
For I know that your true enemy
Is He who leaves you naked, bare.

For naught more lies in His soul
Than terror His secret power you’ll find.
What knowledge He has, He would control
And keep you exposed, unaware, blind.

And in this very fruit, in this tree,
Which He forbade you to take and eat
That wisdom He grasps selfishly
Is yours to seize! And you’ll be complete!”

The woman’s heart uneasy grew.
Although she often walked in joy
With He Who made her...was this true?
Was all His love, perhaps, a ploy?

No reason true had she to fear
But in her heart a spark of dread.
And he who ought to help stood near,
But looked at her, and nothing said.

The Shining One then pressed his point
For scented he her hesitance.
A venomed fang to open joint
He struck to break her last defense:

“All this bounty! All this fruit forbidden!
Made, no doubt your desires to taunt.
Why else? What joy from you hidden?
Perhaps his selfish power to flaunt?

For truly I say to you, this day
This fruit will transform you wholly
To become like God in every way
By knowing good and evil fully.”

Though all that God had done for them
Abounded through with kindness, love,
The woman let these words condemn
Him, setting her desire above.

Why would He keep this wisdom hid,
And leave their minds so destitute?
What right had He this to forbid,
The choicest, sweetest fruit?

So thus they stood, the husband, wife.
By these forked words, her heart misled.
And he — though trusted with their life!
— He looked at her, and nothing said.

She saw the fruit with value much
For wisdom, taste, and pleasant sight.
She reached, she picked, she felt its touch
And finally, she took a bite.

She tasted of its savory zest
It tingled on her tongue and throat.
The man accepted, then, the rest:
He tasted it...and something broke.

The sweetness burned to rancid bile
Shade went cold, and setting Sun
Glared from the west, its warmth defiled
By the sundered law undone.

The man, the woman, turned and saw
Each other in this new ill light
With “wisdom” in their hearts to draw
From, what would meet their godlike sight?

A moment passed, a moment more
In both each other recognized
from breath expelled, to deepest core:
Their Maker's form was compromised.

At last the lies that they believed
Laid bare their folly listening.
From love and happiness bereaved,
And all the beauty glistening

Around them now had turned to dross.
And each now sensed within, their soul
Was dulled, and anti-luminous:
A lifeless, broken coal.

This feeling turned them inward, both.
They hated what they felt, and so
Assumed the other, likewise, loathed
Their naked sin, their faded glow.

Without a word they parted there
And rushed into the forest leaves
Each sought to hide their bodies bare
Perhaps their inner shame relieve.

They grasped at tendrils from the vine
They gathered fig leaves, wide and green.
With desperate fingers these they twined
To clothe themselves, their guilt unseen.

Then with these crude and wilting clothes
They met again, but still their anguish
Keenly pierced. And Eden’s groves
Alike began to languish.

And in that moment first they heard
The breezes shift, a cooling breath
Before which brought delight when stirred
But now seemed fearful unto death.

Each day this hour they walked with God
And such contentment then was dealt
But now in heart, this new sense, odd…
The man, the woman, horror felt.

They fled. With ragged, sobbing gasps,
They sought the deepest wooded shade
In terror to the dust they clasped
Beneath the bushes spent, afraid.

Then while they crouched dissembling
The wind approached, they heard Him speak
It set them deeper, trembling
They dared not answer, nor to seek

His face. At last He reached their ears.
Then heard them both His lordly call:
“Adam” ( the “Man,” as name endears).
“Where are you?” Soft, the echoes fall.

And though the man was shaking, yet
Could not pretend this question missed.
So stood he, finally, and said:
“I heard you coming in the midst

Of garden, so I ran to hide.
For fearful of my naked shame
Your company could not abide.
Nor bear the burden of my blame.”

Then his Maker, God, the One
Addressed him clearly to convict:
“Who told you this, that you should run?
Your nakedness with shame afflict?

I told you not to eat one fruit.
Though all the rest were gifted, blessed.
Did you, indeed, your soul pollute
By breaking this, my only test?”

The Lord of All was calling him
Confess and answer for his choice
Despite the warning given, grim.
But answered he, accusing voice:

“This woman whom you gave to me,
To help, not hinder! Well, now look
That your creation eagerly
Implored I eat, and thus I took!”

By her own husband thus arraigned
The woman shook with fear, alone.
As God then asked her to explain
She likewise her own fault disowned:

“The Shining One! That serpentine
Deceiver told me You had lied!
Convinced by he to contravene
Your word, I ate.” Thus she replied.

Now whither Adversary went
Upon their taking his advice
They had not seen for their lament
At everything they’d sacrificed.

But whether he had run from there
Or cloaked his spirit form to spy
Malevolent at their despair
It mattered not a single mite.

For when they’d spoken of his lies
The One declared to summon him.
And there he was, once-haughty eyes
Despite himself, a fearful glim.

“Oh ‘Shining One’, your cunning heart
Undoes itself, and lays you bare.
For all your pride, for all your art,
You cannot but yourself ensnare.

For by this deed which you devised
Accursed are you! You sought My crown:
Now lower than the beasts, despised
Are you! And further, get you down

And crawl. This dust you taste shall be
To choke your lies, your pride offend.
Until the last, in infamy
Shall all your ill devisings end.”

Yet as God’s Word prevailed to rule,
Of far-off mysteries He spoke
In midst of eons future, cruel,
The darkest bodings to revoke:

“This woman you’ll revile, and she
Shall in her turn abhor your name.
And many distant born shall be
Whom you will subjugate in blame.

Then these of your descent shall hate
Among her children’s children, One.
His very being they’ll execrate
And seek His Life to be undone.

Above them all will you despise
And strike with venom at His heel.
But with His foot shall He likewise
Your last authority repeal.”

This being who once was eminent
Collapsed and scraped about the ground.
Though deep his power, and arrogant,
By God was infinitely drowned.

The One anon to woman said:
“Oh daughter, I will multiply
Your pain in birthing children. Dread
Shall be this labor; loud your cry.

Beside, this constant striving bleak
Your blissful love to obviate:
For him shall your desire seek
But he will seek to dominate.”

She bowed her head, assenting then,
For no excuse had she to plead.
And in the dust, an ugly stem
Was springing up: a choking weed.

The man as well had seen it grow
And wondered at this twisted sprout.
Then God ensued to tell his woe
Of iron earth, and fearful drought:

“Because you listened as your wife
Was tempted, from My Word withdrew;
Because you ate and gave no strife
When, sharing, she then gave to you:

Accursed the ground because of you!
Your sin has warped its fruitful bourn.
Though sweet your labor hitherto,
It hence will bear you rock and thorn.

The tares will flourish with the grain,
The nettles sting and thistles bite.
With sweat and ache must you sustain
Each crop, and work from dawn to night.

And worry for each harvest’s share
Will haunt your seasons, days, and years.
Which seed will fail? And which will bear?
Until you die, possessed with fears.

And you shall die, My son, indeed.
With My own hand I carved you from
The reddened earth: My life to need.
From mud I made you real become.

I breathed in you, a spirit gleamed;
My heart in you, for love to yearn.
From crumbling dust you were esteemed,
And so to dust you shall return.”

The man wept. He knew God’s voice.
With given law had come the warning.
A new age, a broken choice:
Forever lost in mourning.

So there they stood, the woman, man.
Accursed by sin, relations shattered,
All the bounty of the land
Corrupted swift, its beauty scattered.

Yet with all that, the promised hope
Had not escaped their spirits faint.
In endless pit, a single rope:
A cord of peace, despair’s restraint.

And with this distant faith ensured
The man turned to his wife and said:
“In this at least, we are secured,
Though sorrow stalks our way ahead:

The future lives we dreamed to see:
We shall. Although they too will grieve.
As Mother to them all you’ll be
And thus ‘Chavvah’ I name you: Eve.”

Then as he spoke this final thought
The One cast off their wretched clothes
And gave new garments, dearly bought:
By death, from skin of beast composed.

Between them now was Death’s abyss.
They knew they’d lost what had been given.
Lives of love, of joy, of bliss,
Were, by their own hands, riven.

Thus the One declared above
“The tree of Life must now be veiled
Lest Man should take and eat thereof:
His mournful life must be curtailed.

For in this way he had his will:
Become like Us in knowledge full
Of Good indeed — and also ill,
This burden past his heart’s control.”

Again to speak to them He turned,
Their eyes of sorrow pierced His heart.
But such their sin, His nature burned:
He bade them always hence to part.

They turned. As Adam led, they trod
Toward the garden’s eastern verge:
Beyond this lay the land abroad
Their sin’s effect, a fearful scourge.

Whereas before the earth had held
Such distant beauty to explore,
The world made sick when they rebelled
Would show such glory nevermore.

As Eve looked back in tearful haze,
A grief which none is greater:
These eyes which for the last time gaze
In those of her Creator.

Then as they passed, the heavens rent
And holy embers scattered out
As awesome beings made swift descent
Exploding earth and ash about.

They towered midst the billowed smoke
In forms that scarce could be perceived
All eyes and heads and wings evoked
Throughout which fire interweaved.

These sentries of the Holy One
Took up the flame of whirling blade
To guard the tree of Life, and none
Would enter through this barricade.

The falling sun heralds the end
Of halcyon age, the faultless past.
That morn saw perfect dawn ascend,
But coming Darkness long would last.

With fire wheeling far behind
They face the gloom. Alone they stand;
But though from face of God confined,
He keeps them in His sovereign hand.

The wind wails. The forest creaks and sighs.
Though Eve and Adam wander far,
The One keeps watch with unseen eyes,
And lights their way with moon and star.

…

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