After the Fall
After the fall, his body was broken. Her spirit was bruised. His mind was shaken. Innocence and certainty were lost.
In the garden he found her delighting in the evening breeze and in the reflection of the moon and stars in a pool like a mirror. Subtly he went to her. Snake hiss, serpent slither under the silky sand by the pool's edge, while frogs sang, crickets chirped and the animals gathered round her for her affectionate petting--the tiger and the rhino gentle as babies, the vulture picking sweet morsels of fruit from her hand.
Oh, it was a Kodak moment, all right, not long after the world was first fresh made.
After the fall, his wings were frayed and covered with dirt. Scars formed on him, scabs, infected pockets of pus, and he who had once been radiant with light, the shining one, was now groveling and ugly, but still curious to see if he could yet tip the balance, upset the apple cart, so to speak, and make a change.
These creatures He had made, so cunning in their variety, the horns, hair, bills, digits, fur, claws, limpid eyes, their little souls, those little pieces of Him shining from their cores---well, it was offensive, that's what it was. And if he could make the plan work, then it would serve Him right, so full of Himself as He was, always so secure of the rightness of His actions and so unwilling to share His power.
And so he went to the woman, slithered up her leg, waved his head back and forth for her caresses and whispered in her ear. But she was too dumb to figure it out that night. It was going to be harder than he thought. But with persistence, his strategy was bound to work in time and the Thrones and Dominions would shudder at the power of the serpent.
He would worm his way into their hearts, eat away at their souls and all that would be left was the bitter taste of ashes and worm castings--just a little offering to the Great One, a pile of shit stinking in his nostrils, displeasing Him. It wasn't much, but it would be a beginning. Maybe humble little he could bring down the whole creation. Just one little grain of sand, just one little voice saying "me" instead of "us".
Imagine it, he thought with a thrill. The tiger bites down on the neck of the lamb, the rhino gores the tiger, the woman suffers blood pangs in her entrails, and the vulture feasts on one and all sending up a blessed stink to heaven. A feeling like joy awoke in him and he determined to follow through with his plan. Maybe he could package his idea, even sell franchises. A devil could do well indeed in a material world.
He was almost a little in love with Eve. She really was rather a bewitching thing with her dark tangle of hair, shining eyes, lips breasts, buttocks, so well-knit, so supple, so all-of-a-piece, and yet she was merely the means to an end, the first weak link in a chain, that would break and lead to his dominance. And so he continued to whisper sweet nothings into her ear, and he began to flatter her.
"You are much nicer than He is, and far more generous. He really is selfish and never lets us do what we truly want. There's always these limits. Don't do this, don't do that. It's for your own good says He," the devil whispered.
Most of his words she ignored, but a little bit of it managed to burrow its way into her heart and there it lodged, such a small thing really, but it gave her a secret satisfaction, this slight desire to be just a tad superior to Adam who occasionally put on airs.
She lay in the garden with the night wrapped around her like a warm blanket, but the snake slithered into her dreams and she woke up hot and bothered.
You never know when you wake up what the day will bring, but a lot of things happened that day because Eve woke up hot and bothered.
What a shock to the system when she went to the tree, snapped off that piece of fruit and bit into it. She could see so much more then--patterns she'd never seen before, the way the darkness interwove with the light. She had never really noticed how dark the darkness was before and it frightened her. In agitation, she went to Adam and tossed him a piece of the ripe fruit.
"Breakfast," she said tersely. "Dig in."
"But." said Adam.
Something about her would accept no demur. He bit in and saw the darkness enclosing, grabbed onto Eve and the darkness receded. They clung together and did the nasty for the very first time to try to keep the forces they had unleashed under control, but the mountains began to grumble and belch fire, the earth cracked and heaved.
Then the Angel of the Lord appeared before the man and woman and laid down the law for them and thus it has been down the many generations even unto this day.
You never know when you wake up in the morning just what the day will bring.
After the fall, his body was broken. Her spirit was bruised. His mind was shaken. Innocence and certainty were lost.
In the garden he found her delighting in the evening breeze and in the reflection of the moon and stars in a pool like a mirror. Subtly he went to her. Snake hiss, serpent slither under the silky sand by the pool's edge, while frogs sang, crickets chirped and the animals gathered round her for her affectionate petting--the tiger and the rhino gentle as babies, the vulture picking sweet morsels of fruit from her hand.
Oh, it was a Kodak moment, all right, not long after the world was first fresh made.
After the fall, his wings were frayed and covered with dirt. Scars formed on him, scabs, infected pockets of pus, and he who had once been radiant with light, the shining one, was now groveling and ugly, but still curious to see if he could yet tip the balance, upset the apple cart, so to speak, and make a change.
These creatures He had made, so cunning in their variety, the horns, hair, bills, digits, fur, claws, limpid eyes, their little souls, those little pieces of Him shining from their cores---well, it was offensive, that's what it was. And if he could make the plan work, then it would serve Him right, so full of Himself as He was, always so secure of the rightness of His actions and so unwilling to share His power.
And so he went to the woman, slithered up her leg, waved his head back and forth for her caresses and whispered in her ear. But she was too dumb to figure it out that night. It was going to be harder than he thought. But with persistence, his strategy was bound to work in time and the Thrones and Dominions would shudder at the power of the serpent.
He would worm his way into their hearts, eat away at their souls and all that would be left was the bitter taste of ashes and worm castings--just a little offering to the Great One, a pile of shit stinking in his nostrils, displeasing Him. It wasn't much, but it would be a beginning. Maybe humble little he could bring down the whole creation. Just one little grain of sand, just one little voice saying "me" instead of "us".
Imagine it, he thought with a thrill. The tiger bites down on the neck of the lamb, the rhino gores the tiger, the woman suffers blood pangs in her entrails, and the vulture feasts on one and all sending up a blessed stink to heaven. A feeling like joy awoke in him and he determined to follow through with his plan. Maybe he could package his idea, even sell franchises. A devil could do well indeed in a material world.
He was almost a little in love with Eve. She really was rather a bewitching thing with her dark tangle of hair, shining eyes, lips breasts, buttocks, so well-knit, so supple, so all-of-a-piece, and yet she was merely the means to an end, the first weak link in a chain, that would break and lead to his dominance. And so he continued to whisper sweet nothings into her ear, and he began to flatter her.
"You are much nicer than He is, and far more generous. He really is selfish and never lets us do what we truly want. There's always these limits. Don't do this, don't do that. It's for your own good says He," the devil whispered.
Most of his words she ignored, but a little bit of it managed to burrow its way into her heart and there it lodged, such a small thing really, but it gave her a secret satisfaction, this slight desire to be just a tad superior to Adam who occasionally put on airs.
She lay in the garden with the night wrapped around her like a warm blanket, but the snake slithered into her dreams and she woke up hot and bothered.
You never know when you wake up what the day will bring, but a lot of things happened that day because Eve woke up hot and bothered.
What a shock to the system when she went to the tree, snapped off that piece of fruit and bit into it. She could see so much more then--patterns she'd never seen before, the way the darkness interwove with the light. She had never really noticed how dark the darkness was before and it frightened her. In agitation, she went to Adam and tossed him a piece of the ripe fruit.
"Breakfast," she said tersely. "Dig in."
"But." said Adam.
Something about her would accept no demur. He bit in and saw the darkness enclosing, grabbed onto Eve and the darkness receded. They clung together and did the nasty for the very first time to try to keep the forces they had unleashed under control, but the mountains began to grumble and belch fire, the earth cracked and heaved.
Then the Angel of the Lord appeared before the man and woman and laid down the law for them and thus it has been down the many generations even unto this day.
You never know when you wake up in the morning just what the day will bring.