Eve Leads Adam from Paradise

Our Lady Eve possessed the freedom to
Do as she pleased with grasses, roots, leaves, flowers,
And wander blithely through such gifts that grew
Benignly as her lawful many dowers.
But not the apple – so the contract said:
Forbidden, leave untouched, but hold in thrall;
And with one last stern look, she then was led
To wonder freely in her park – and fall.
The hemlock yields no balm, the fir no honey,
Nor will the nettle’s root produce a rose,
And if at midnight everything is sunny,
Our Lady Eve would not have needed clothes.
And Adam stumbled near behind his Eve,
Surprised, dishevelled, buttoning his sleeve.

Paradise Lost

Two happy people beautiful and brave
Within a grotto carved for mortal love
Were starved of everything but what they crave
Beyond all else below the high above
That smiled so sweetly on their fronting dale
And for a summer held them in the thrall
Of brook and sunshine, lime and nightingale
Till fortune, planets, stars, the gods and all
The great gears of the universal dial
Struck twelve o’clock twice for the hundredth time
And all at once with one abandoned smile
Their happy pleasure turned unhappy crime
Against the niceties of those who judge
The splitting of a pea and taste of fudge.

White Forest

Come float within the forest of what seems
Where everything is light and white and birds
Trill to approving lullabies in dreams
And all bow courtly to desiring words
That echo inexhaustibly throughout
Its paths and dales and through each nodding tree
That answers yes devoutly without doubt
Come now approach and show yourself to me
You truthful men who stumble in the light
That animates my realm and here come stand
While I sit spinning on my wheel the white
And frothy gossamer that makes this land
Where nothing ever need be make believe
If you believe in me and what I weave.

Handling a Hurricane

We’re in the eye of her vast storm right here –
All’s calm, but look, we dare not step away;
The eyewall gnashes ominously near
And there her anger gorges on its prey.
Stay near – we’ll do what must be done; we’ll wait
Until we catch her gaze, and then we’ll stand
With strength and awe and stretch to seize our fate,
Receiving, holding her approving hand.
Then rainbows, falling petals from the sky,
Clouds scud, and then a smiling burst of sun,
And all is wonderful and bright, on high
And here with us below where everyone
Moves freely in expansive calm and light
Where she and I find hand-in-hand delight.

Third Avatar, Two

Leda Lamour,

To Stoop to Conquer

The lion and the unicorn both bend
Toward the graceful lady, tall in beauty,
Who stands before her tent, to condescend
To smile upon a rightful manly duty.
With fecund nature busily amazed
With monkeys, rabbits, goats, fleurs, sundry birds,
And verdant trees - and blazoned pennants raised,
The woman deigns to speak – these are her words:
“These worthy gifts (each sense receives it due)
Cry I am all you want, your only love;
While nature and brave heart proclaim you true,

You kneel below to place me high above.
So with humility you conquer all;
You stoop, I rise, completely in your thrall.”

Fourth Avatar, One

Christian John,

Parable One: Raining Light

“Let there be light,” the man in rags proclaimed,
As John passed by the streetlight where he sprawled;
“And there was light,” John said, the other framed
Within that selfsame light to which he’d crawled.
And since it rained, the light bejewelled him in
An iridescence shimmering and wide;
It caught John in its brightness, while his twin
Now spoke to him as if in an aside:
“I’m not to tell you this,” his twin began,
“Hell’s other people – yes, that’s very true;
But hell’s in you for others – man to man
It spreads about and each receives his due.”
At this, John stepped away, the rain his tears

For all those that he’d hurt throughout his years.