In the old version, Eve is either too stupid or too naive to understand that the snake is really the devil in disguise. The snake (aka devil) tempts her. He says, "Here take a bit out of this apple." And so she does, after all its a beautiful apple, and she is a simple girl. Little does she know that as she bites deep into the apple--- she is now responsible for the fall of man.
In Lilith's story, the snake makes yet another appearance, but this time he isn't talking to her in the Garden of Eden, he's fucking her in hell. Excellent. In the new version, the love story, I think Lilith is the complicated one. We're not afraid of Eve, but we are afraid of her. She is seductress, child-killer, and shrieking owl. She has a lot on her mind. Some say Eve and Lilith are one and the same anyway, like the Roman god, Janus. It could get interesting.
Also, in this version, the snake is a symbol of wisdom, neither a demon or a god.
Image: John Maler Collier. "Lilith" oil on canvas, 1887. The Atkinson Gallery, public domain.
I love this idea! I've wanted to write something with Eve and/or Lilith for a long time.
ReplyDeleteOh, Lilith, the older one
ReplyDeleteTaking little Adam by the scruff
"Taste me, boy. I am woman."
Overwhelmed in the land of lust
the boy beseeches
"Father, please. The woman tempts me.
I am uncomfortable in this crux of life and living."
Thus the way unwinds slowly
No more ecstatic paradise, rising waves of bliss.
We must circumscribe our biological imperatives
in the name of a loving God.
And Lilith?
She sparkles in ululation
embracing the night.
libramoon, lovely poem. thank you. LAS
ReplyDelete