In The Beginning Poem by David McLansky

Adam lay back in the leaves
As moonlight filtered through the trees
Which gave each leaf a silvered glow
And watched the sparkling shadowed show;

He was a youth, perfection formed
With every grace was he adorned
With no fear of age or halting death
Which overtook his garden pets;

How curious to watch them die,
They wilted with a plaintive sigh.
They grew stiff with spotted swollen limbs,
Their clear eyes yellowed round their rims;

Where once lambs ambled with delight
And clicked their hoofs on rocks ‘till night
They grew more solemn as days passed,
And left their bones in clumps of grass.

Adam’s body beneath the moon
Turned silver-gold in the gloom
He stretched his muscles rippling paired
And sighed deeply in the midnight air;

What pleasure to await his bride,
Soon she would lie along his side,
With rounded breasts against his chest,
With snake-like fingers that caressed;

Soon her chestnut mantled hair
Would form a drape that masked the air;
Soon her legs would him entwine
And ensnare his limbs like tangling vines.

And so he lay upon his back
Secure in God’ s sweet Eden pact
A mortal youth who lived immortal;
Eve stepped through a moon dark portal.


Eve stepped through a yellow beam
That from the wanton moon did stream,
Revealing both a breast and thigh
That caused the youth to stare and sigh;

In the shadow of the trees
The moon did flicker so as to tease
Arousing all of Adam’s lust,
This boy of spirit and of dust;

A moonbeam slid around her breast,
Revealing curve and pointed crest,
It carved her belly, her nexus hair,
He could not help but gulp and stare;

But then her face was bathed in light,
Her nose was fine, her teeth were bright
Which she revealed in a smile,
She raised her arms with artful guile;

How she enjoyed this native power,
The unlearned beauty of a flower,
That mesmerized his mortal senses
With good and evil consequences.


She brushed his lips with her nipple
Which he did suck and fiercely tipple,
As if sweet nectar flowed within,
He bounced her breasts against his chin.

She deftly climbed upon his loins,
He pierced her then, they were conjoined
And as he bucked, she matched his stride,
How hotly burned the flame inside.

And when their passion’s fever crested
Brow to brow they sweating rested,
He rolled her gently on her side
And stroked her cheek with unchecked pride;

While staring at her love flushed face
He recalled a lonely time and place
When all of Eden had been mated,
Except for him who now was sated;

How distant seemed that pain in time,
His agony a living crime,
What blackness marred his mournful vision,
He stalked the garden with indecision:

What good was Paradise unshared,
The fragrant flowers, the perfumed air,
The gushing streams, the verdant groves,
The rising sun, pink and rose;

What purpose to climb glistening peaks
If he could not with some one speak
To share the marvel of his eyes
As he climbed and mounted high;

What use to see the silvered lake
Without someone, to share, partake,
To share his sense of awe and wonder:
The lightening flash, the rolling thunder;

What pleasure in bucolic scenes
Of goats and lambs and elks by streams
Could he know as he espied
With no one standing by his side?

God while walking in his Eden
Questioned Adam at their meeting,
“Why seem you sad and so forlorn,
You are my favorite creature formed;

Behold My mountains, My fields, My rivers,
Thee unto to you I do deliver,
I’ve made you master of all the earth, ”
Adam answered, “Yet, I feel cursed;

All creatures on the fields or plains,
The bison standing in the rain,
The antelope and the gazelle
Live in herds, in pairs do dwell;

While I live lonely, a King in name
Joyless in my boundless reign,
Restless, angry, and obsessed,
All this beauty leaves me depressed.”

“Know you not all beasts do quarrel,
From lowly ant to chattering squirrel,
All seek to dominate their kind,
In solitude is peace of mind? ”


Adam sank down at God’s feet
God darkened Adams eyes with sleep,
From his flesh He formed new life,
When he awoke he found a wife;

How could he know, could he foresee,
The coming bouts of ecstasy
The feathered thrill of flesh on flesh,
The languor known at each caress;

The gentle moments, so sweet and tender,
The open arms when she surrendered,
When she gave herself unbound
As they lay upon the ground;

How oddly was her body fashioned
She made him stir, he felt his passion,
How quietly she mutely lay,
He didn’t know just what to say.

Eve lay still as if inert
A creature formed of bone and dirt,
Unsure of role, her rights, her place,
First Lady of the human race;

Adam rubbed his side, still sore,
She looked at him, her eyes unsure;
“Who are you, what is this place? ”
Adam rose and began to pace.

“This is the garden of our Lord,
Being lonely, feeling bored,
The Lord made you to fill my leisure, ”
He reached for her and tried to squeeze her.

She sat up and hastened back,
He withdrew his hand, his arm fell slack,
“I’m your lord, your human Master.”
She answered him with gales of laughter.

He spoke again, much offended
“Your lord and Master as He intended,
As his vassal I hold legal sway
Over all the life that you survey.”

“Am I your sheep, your cow, your pig,
Just because you gave a rib?
Am I your beast, your dog, your slave,
All for just a pinch of clay? ”

“Close your mouth and still your lungs,
Why did God give you a tongue?
To mock your better and your leader.
He wondered, was it wise too beat her?

But then she grabbed him by the wrist
And gave his thumb a little twist,
He found himself up in the air,
As he passed by she tugged his hair

And as he landed she spun around,
And kicked him with a kick called round
He quickly stumbled to his feet
She smiled at him with a look discrete;

She slapped her hands still caked with dust,
“Try it again if you must,
But in my mud was a shoe fly,
A Third Degree Karate guy.”