The Light That Will Not Be Seized

[This is a poem about reinterpreting the Genesis 3 Garden of Eden story and how many Bible teachers throughout Jewish and Christian history have emulated Lucifer’s attempt to play god by eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.]

He wanted to be the light-bearer;
He did not understand that light
Clutched tightly becomes
A fistful of darkness.

He wanted everyone to see
That he had found the truth,
He had explained it
Perfectly and they should

Viralize his brilliance all over
The world so that everyone
Could come to the one right
Understanding of God.

He had a fruit to offer all
Of humanity from the tree
Of knowledge: it would allow
Them to be exactly like God.

He did not understand that
God is the first flower whose
Seed is in all things and we
Are branches of the original vine

Not needing to be more
Than that; we do not need
To know all things; we only
Need to know that we are loved

And we belong to the great
Fire inside of which our beauty
Can be shared and enjoyed by
All and all art comes from that

Fire and never belongs to any
One spark within it, but the
Flower offers beauty freely
To anyone who will sit with her

And receive the manna that
Has never stopped being poured
Out all over the ground in every
Seed even in places without rain

Where tears sow rivers
That become a fertile crescent
And nobody needs to hoard
Land, fight wars, or put themselves

Behind the panoptical lens
Called wisdom in one day,
Later science, later criticism,
When foolishness is the only

True wisdom, to sit in the lap
Of our mother and know nothing
But the sweetness of her gifts;
The uncreated light that dances

On living water in the wind;
Our task is not to conquer
Or prove or explain; our joy
Is to dance within the song of God.

The struggle has been between
The grasping hands of billions
Of God-wrestlers who wanted
To control the light and conquer

Other nations whom they defined
As infidels and gave themselves
The mission of baptizing into
Civilization which changed definition

In every era and whenever nations
Lost wars they either adopted new
Gods or decided their god was
Punishing them for worshiping

Wrong and thus the quarrels of
Humanity and the chaos of
Nature became divine punishment
And God became angry first and

Foremost and the universe’s
Flower saw this with great
Distress; she spoke through
Prophets who were killed

And then revered and she
Saw that shedding divine
Blood would change the
Script. If humanity could see

The pain she suffers every time
One of her children is crucified
Then perhaps they would stop
Trying to grasp the light and

Learn to dance in the light;
She planted a seed in the
House of bread who grew
Like a shoot of wheat from Jesse’s

Stump and became the bread
Of life, telling his disciples that
They could eat his flesh and drink
His blood and become divine.

He was the light of the world
And the good shepherd who
Sought his sheep among the
Outsiders and offended the

Rulers whenever they offended
Life and prevented healing;
He partied with the sinners
And let loose women rub their

Hands all over him with the
Anointing used to freshen
Their sheets for love with
Lonely men; he knew their

Love was pure if not clean
So he made them the hosts
Of every party that a bible
Teacher invited him to.

He scolded men who
Scolded women and they
Began to seek a way
Of getting rid of him.

Divine plot or not, the Bible
Teachers proved through the
Cross that they have always
Hated God’s mercy more than

Anything else and the men who
Fled Jesus proved that the women
Who stood at his cross until he
Died were his real disciples.

Then the divine mother sent his
Mother and the queen of the
Apostles to his tomb and they
Became the first evangelists to

Share the news that he had risen
And his spirit was poured out
On his chosen family who
Spoke in every language to

Three thousand who were
Pierced by his blood to become
His new body woven together by
The wind who blows where

She will; and the zealous
Bible teachers stoned them
And the most ruthless one
Of all was determined to

Stomp out this blasphemy
But the light he was trying
To seize blinded him on the
Way to Damascus and he

Became a light-dancer who
Tried to save the new
Movement from all the
Light-clutchers warning

Them not to seek ways
Of proving their faith but
Simply to accept the gift
That cannot be earned.

He told them knowledge
Puffs up and love builds
Up and no circumcision
Wounds the heart like

Mercy itself and so the
Movement grew and the
Empire tried to stomp
It out and then painted

The blood of Jesus onto
Its shields so that empire
And church could be brought
Together in unholy matrimony.

And throughout every age
There have been those
Who dance in the light and
Those who try to seize the

Light and that is what the
Struggle between Jesus
And Lucifer looks like;
One day everyone will stop

Trying to know good and evil
And accept the grace of
Every other fruit in the garden
And then we will see that

We never left Eden at all and
The flower that is uncreated
Light dancing on water in
The wind will burst forth in song.