Familia Primordium

Familia Primordium

Adam

(man, red soil)

I learned to trust

before my days

were numbered

He planted

I ate

He said, Do not eat

or you will die I

never asked what

this die

could be

I was namer

and here was something

I had not named

something I'd never seen

in the garden

oh, I knew good

but could not name it

now I name

the thorns springing up

among the flowers the

poison growing

on the vines

Eve

(living)

I won't speak of the garden

except to say that

out here

the snakes don't talk

they coil

behind the stones

while my children

babble and cry

each night I pray

they won't fall

silent

that they will live

long enough

to hear

what I have to tell

we are all dying

out here

Abel

(mourning, a breath, a vapor)

Each one I raised

from birth, named--

they came when I called

for days

I sharpened the knife so I

could shear them

without pain,

earn their trust

it had to be

sharper, now

Cain and I spoke often

of giving something

difficult to give:

the harder the giving

I told him

the greater the gift

so I whispered

to the seven I chose--

the seven best

gave them each

a new name of

mourning

while the blood warmed

my hands

rose into vapor

but when their blood

had soaked the altar

I had to turn away

ashamed

So you did it

Cain says, poking the

empty bodies

with the handle

of his hoe

And what's it like to kill?

Adam 2

I was molded of

fertile soil

the fruit

was filled with seeds

of distrust

Cain

(brought forth, acquired)

I shall always be

Firstborn of the Living

and first to test

the curse:

when you eat of it

you shall surely die

I saw the cycles--

Planting, harvest

birth and death

and in death

came, always,

the source of another

planting

flesh and flora

are surely the same

My gift was sweat

and hours breaking dirt

cutting my hands on thorns

while Able lay

beside the stream

napping with his flocks

How impotent those carcasses were!

Butchered, laid open

nothing to do but rot,

no seed

but they were only sheep;

curiosity led me into the field

with Able

to test the work he had done

upon that knife

I half expected him

to spring up

from the red soil,

both of us

to return: Good news!

The curse was a lie--

Now we are

Like God!

instead, I am

cursed to wander

barren dirt

But, see this mark

this sign means I will live

to acquire a son

and he will be Enoch,

dedicated to a harvest

of offspring

each stamped

with the immortal sign

of Cain

Eve 2

I often look to the east

like he might come home

I would kiss him

I have told and retold

the story of the banished

and of the dead

and how only one might

arrive again

where he began

but I am telling now

the story of the granted--

I know

what I am doing, now

Adam sweats and toils

and remembers

the garden, the Garden

My garden is wrought

not with sweat

but blood

Seth

(granted)

For years

Able's bones lay

where he fell

and I watched as he

crumbled into nothing

but dust

I buried

what was left: his stone

knife and a handful

of teeth

I have named my son

Enosh, mortal,

one who knows

he is only dust

whatever else we are

is God-breathed