deceived, and destroyed.
She taunts us from the deepest recesses of our brains. We must resist.
The First Family: Version One
And the man experienced Eve, his wife; and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain,3 and said, “I have become a mother with the help of God. And once again became pregnant and gave birth to Abel, Cain’s brother. Gen IV, 1.
Adam and Eve under one another’s spell
Dissolved in passions neither could quell.
They coupled when the sun was bright
And coupled, too, while watching stars at night
Then within Eve’s most mystic place
A creature grew from only a trace
Of life. Her monthly blood stopped its flow
And she felt a heaviness down below.
Her pelvis was strong enough to withstand strain
As well as the movements of the unborn Cain.
But many a morning she’d wake up queasy
Whatever was happening was not easy
On her digestion. She began to worry
That Adam might catch it in a hurry-
The problem that within her was brewing.
So she asked him to stop what he was doing
And to pray to God for information
Or, perhaps, some confirmation
That whatever it was she was undergoing
Was within her realm of knowing.
She should, after all, understand her state
Given that she forbidden fruit once ate,
The one that on her bestowed intuition
Should have explained her indisposition
And her weight gain—but did not.
Adam prayed. God Answered the fact you have sought
Is this: within Eve a creature is growing
From the ecstasy you both were knowing.
One instant when fathoming her you did together conceive
A new life: one part Adam and one part Eve.
What features that creature will possess
I must confess.
I Cannot Predict because when sperm and ovum do their dance
What happens next is due to chance.
Eve will feel heavy, her breasts will swell,
And there are a few more things I must tell
You. Like a melon round will she be
And she’ll feel a strain about each knee.
This will make her walk like a duck.
But that is truly a stroke of luck
Because it means the child inside
Is growing long as Eve is growing wide.
Yet she will feel beautiful, just like a queen,
The first human mother that has ever been.
Eve sparkled with a rosy glow
As her hand guided his to show
What they both had done
One moment under a palm tree shading the sun.
There was much to do to build a nest
And furnish it with the very best.
Trees to be cut and stones to be hewn.
Together they built a safe cocoon.
Then one day Eve felt an urgent strain;
There were tears of joy mixed with stabs of pain.
Dear husband she said drawing near is the time
For us to witness a moment sublime.
Rotating slowly, without making a sound,
The being in her womb turned upside down.
A head first pushed its way towards the light
And was sliding from her canal with all its might.
Eve pushed and puffed in the heat of the day
And a round hairy head inched its way
From between her legs. It’s a pear with hair
Adam said of him who was to become his son and heir.
But Eve was dizzy with sweat and pain
From the arduous effort as well as the strain
Of giving birth. Her mind conjured images of the garden fruit,
The seductive serpent, the eviction, and the route
Out of Eden. But the memories were jumbled.
The images were clotted and Eve’s lips mumbled
Thoughts which were spinning, spinning, spinning
In her brain like a circle without end, without beginning.
When it seemed that her energy was spent
She touched Adam’s face who over her was bent.
Suddenly there was an urgent rush
And the child oozed out in a reddish gush.
Eve shouted Thank you God!
With a palm frond Adam sawed
The cord that connected mother with child.
He knotted the cord and smiled.
Then he stroked the child’s back. It expelled
Mucous that within its mouth had welled.
