Trash

She's negotiated with the trash can:
While his dirty mouth stays shut
she'll let him stay.
If one parcel of dirt escapes
from his wide belly
Well, she'll throw that mess away.

Running

Rounding the corner, she saw the glint of metal
grasped in his hand.
She quickened her step and he hastened
to catch up.
His strides were longer, and he wielded the weapon
grasped in his hand.
Across the giant lawn, too long, she ran
to catch up
with the setting sun, dropping her belongings
like so much baggage
keeping her from living.

Eden

She crouched down with him, the human,
searching for a hiding place in the grass.
The human heard thundrous footsteps
marking a path towards him,
and he instinctively covered the woman's ears.
He chanced a brief smoothing of her hair
while she searched his newly fearful eyes.
Unfamiliar was both the lump in her throat
and the rising temperature in her face.
Before this hour she knew nothing but
contentedness
and peace.
The human, Adam, obviously understood.
Never had she seen his mouth drawn in such a straight line.

"Where are you?"
The authority of this Voice
was both breath and fire.

Nearby, the snake recoiled, tucking its legs firmly beneath him.
Every tree shook as a fresh stream of wind rushed up from the garden gates.

The woman glanced nervously towards the tree,
the one that she knew would haunt her.
Adam cleared his throat, voice cracking as he spoke,
"We were embarrased. Ashamed, even.
Both the woman and I...we're naked. So we hid."

Calmly, the Lord asked,
"Who told you?"
Adam observed the snake shift uneasily out of the corner of his eye.
"Adam...did you eat from the tree which I forbade you to eat from?"

"Only because she made me! This woman whom you forced on me." Even as the words left his mouth, he regretted them. His own guilt was reddening his hands.

The woman wasted no time.
"The snake told me to, and he's to blame. He's a liar and a deceiver. I only did it because he convinced me it was alright with you!"

Now the snake lifted its head and flitted its tongue, uconcerned and silent. He only stared ahead, anticipating the wrath that followed.
Even as YHWH cursed him to crawl on his belly, the snake's disappearing legs seemed only a minor inconvenience. His eyes flashed at the humans, both man and woman, and then at God as he slithered away, out of the Garden.

Both Adam and his wife, whom he decidedly called Eve, (for she was to be "Mother of All Living") received a curse for their deliberate disobedience towards their Creator and Friend.

"You will surely die, as I warned before you partook of the fruit."
The Lord's voice resounded as Adam and Eve walked out of the Garden's shelter and into a wide, cruel world. God covered them with animal skin out of love, but he likewise banished them from Eden so that death was imminent. The humans would never eat from the Tree of Life. Turning around for a last glance at Paradise, Adam and Eve observed a flaming sword and a being with wings, a head like their own, and the body of a bull pacing the entrance to Eden. Eve looked down and a single tear striped her cheek.

Wiping it away, Adam whispered, "Just as YHWH protects the Garden, so will He protect us. Somehow...well, I just know it. He will make a way for us." Eve nodded
and steadily they stalked into a horizon rising over a great, wild, and untamed world.

Comparisons

Dahlonega v. Lawrenceville v. Athens

Saints v. Newbodies v. Bulldawgs

Mountains v. Malls v. Arches

Chow v. B Building v. Apartment

"That (forsaken) Thing" v. Water's Edge v. RUF

Catterson v. Wilkes v. Landers-Potts

Uncertainty v. Uncertainty v Uncertainty

Some things never change...

here lies an old man
squashed by his own dreams
and he wonders, "what does it mean?"
he stares, wide-eyed through
the lenses of his rounded glasses
and accuses the ceiling above
for crashing down so unexpectedly

Wind Up Doll

I find it unfair
that you can wind me up
and watch me inch forward
as you
step back
and laugh, enjoying my broken stride
while I am powerless
to make you move

Alleluia

If it must be a part of me
(like a mole, a mark, or scar)
it better have some meaning.
After too much consideration
it's there
and it's permanent,
and it's an homage to the One
who gives abundantly all of these things:
gentleness and goodness and self control
and peace and hope and joy
and love and kindness and patience!
It's an exclamation of appreciation.
"Alleluia" it says.
He is crowned and at the Right Hand of the Father, it reminds me.
That ancient fish lodged in the post of a rugged cross
shows every man who we are.
We are called, equipped, adopted and elected.
We are His, and He IS Risen.
Was it necessary that His grace should extend to me like this?
Was I ever entitled to His mercy?
No.
Was it necessary for me to get a tattoo as a reminder of His great love?
No. However, He is glorified. He is praised.
And I say again, "Alleluia".
That will be my mantra for years to come
and it will echo into eternity when I join the angels
in singing:
"Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty
Who was and is and is to Come"