The Program
The final act of creation was not the resting, but the cutting.
God had to finish what he started. But this meant displaying
an attribute as yet untested; God would have to be stern. So
with the eyes in the back of his head he saw them take and eat:
sweet to them, bitter to him. And it had to be that way if they
were ever going to get with the program and grow up. Then God crossed his arms in the displeasured-affection of fathers and sent them off with the skins on their backs. Little did they know the forbidden fruit was laced with an elixir of grace, the dominant feature being to distract attention, to console and to sooth. No matter how far time carried them God’s children would be forever haunted by what off-to-the-side theologians would later come to refer to as the gustus dei – the taste of God.
were ever going to get with the program and grow up. Then God crossed his arms in the displeasured-affection of fathers and sent them off with the skins on their backs. Little did they know the forbidden fruit was laced with an elixir of grace, the dominant feature being to distract attention, to console and to sooth. No matter how far time carried them God’s children would be forever haunted by what off-to-the-side theologians would later come to refer to as the gustus dei – the taste of God.
The taste of God – never heard that before but it is sweet to the lips, satisfying the soul.
“Little did they know the forbidden fruit was laced with an elixir of grace,”
Yes. This. Thanks for your beautiful words..
This is stirringly brilliant. I am resting and meditating on the meaning of ” the skins on their backs.” I am slow I will find the tucked away in it. That’s what I adore about poetry.
check it…
This is exquisite, John!
loved!