-- Mark Twain

Eve

Gingerly she laid the fruit before him,
Knowing mankind's fate lay in the rind.
Wishing greater knowledge then compelled them,
For other grass is greener in the mind.

Created by their god to follow rules,
Ambitious souls - compelled to freely reason
With intellect and thought - such awesome tools
Caused Paradisal walls to form a prison.

A tiger's not condemned for use of claws,
Though Satan is too ambitious we are taught.
Our parents' dire act had divine cause,
They only used their primal gift of thought.

So, we work for bread and labor in birth,
Small enough price for a reasoning mind.
We still don't know the universal girth,
And suffering continues for all mankind.

We live with death and know about pain
And we're still seeking the Tree of Life.
But the journey has never been in vain --
We should all be grateful to Adam's wife.

Copyright 1983 Louis J. Rose All Rights Reserved.