Eve Undone

II. Home

He leaves us. Walking away, leaving no footprints or sound. Only blessing.

"The sun will rise and fall and I will be with you always."

We are caught in this moment of knowing. We are home. And as fire lights the sky and insects flit and hum Husband tells me the tale and I feel this truth in the deepest part of me.

"He was. And He was all. Hovering over the depths of darkness. And  from this nothing He rose it up, this earth beneath our feet, into light radiated from His own Spirit. And from this earth sprung water and this water fed all things green and fresh. In His palms He harnessed fire and hung the sky with light to govern both day and night and time.  With a Word He painted trees into being, boughs laden with fruit so sweet, plants to sustain and please. Creatures of all measure and manner. Of four legs. Of winged wonder. Of oceans depths. And I, humble servant, to tend and care, of dust He made me. Moulded me in His likeness from this very dirt and breathed into me the Breath of Life that I might open my eyes to this wonder He has made.

"It was here that He brought me. To this garden. To the very center where He planted the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and He said to me, "you may eat of any tree in this garden but you may not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for if you do, you will surely die." He brought before me every beast and to each I gave a name as He asked of me but none was suited to be my companion.  So He closed my eyes and from my chest He took a rib and from my rib He moulded you. For me to love."

And I settle in this truth, in the crook of his arm, flesh warm and firm as sun dips beneath the lip of the horizon and washes shades of orange into soft shadow.

"And what is it?" I ask.  "To die?"

"May we never know," he says softly. And he pulls me against him and the song of the night holds us and we are one.