Forbidden Fruit

And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam,
and he slept:
and God took one of Adam’s ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof.

And of the rib, which the Lord God had taken from the man,
made He a woman,
and brought her unto the man.

And Adam said,
“This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh:
she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
                                                                                                                                                                      Genesis 2:21-24

The Family Tree

I was a posthumous child.
My father died before I was born.
My mother was just three months pregnant.

It was wartime.
There was only the one photograph.
A handsome young naval officer in uniform.

To my mother he became that image.
He lived in her memory,
but not in mine.

One day the war was over.
I was three years old.
Nothing changed.

War was meaningless.
Simply a sound.
An echo.

My father
would always be
that faded photograph.


A Boy Friend

I’m seventeen years of age.
It’s a spring afternoon.
I’m rowing.

Opposite me sits a girl.
She is nineteen.
Beautiful.

She wears a green dress.
Her hair is shining
in the sun.

The water moves the boat
gently up and down.
We talk.

A sudden instinct tells me that
what could become love
will not happen.

 
The Modest Engagement

I’m nineteen years of age.
At the local dance hall
it’s the last waltz.

My partner is seventeen.
Her eyes are brown.
Her hair brunette.

She wears a blue dress.
We dance well
together.
 
The music comes to an end.
She kisses my cheek,
shyly.

A sudden instinct tells me that
what could become love
will happen.

 
Plighting Troth

We stand side by side
exchanging vows
before a priest.

Through the wedding dress
I can feel her arm
shaking.

He pronounces us “Man and Wife”.
We become the one flesh.
Eternal.

And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
                                                                                                                                                                                      Genesis 2:25