Adversary

We have been eating the first-fruits
Been consuming at no real cost
We have gorged our proud selves on indulgence
And our souls are in gluttony, lost

We have been foolish and reckless
Found comfort of every sort
We are impulsive and restless
While defiling the Most Holy’s court

We’ve been excessively hoarding
Storing up for ourselves, for ‘one day’
We have built houses on desserts
Sure that no storm should e’er come this way

We have tasted the sweetness of decadence
And the seductress’s honey-rich kiss
We’ve discarded contentment and providence
And exchanged gratitude for blind bliss

We have evicted discomfort and grief
and stockpiled anxious oblivion
We have watered the roots of suspended belief
And denied the denial we’re living in

We have been spoiled
We’ve spoiled ourselves
We have inflated our place and our needs

We have been soiled
We’ve soiled ourselves
We have landed among rocks, and tall weeds

We have been eating the first-fruits
As Eve, chose what’s good to the eye
from a tree with forbidden and deep roots
Based on whispers, suggestions, and lies

We have closed, bloodstained hands around fistfuls of gold
White-knuckled while tense, and alert
While our brothers and sisters warm corpses grow cold
And the voices cry out from the dirt

Careless, complacent, comfortable – safe
Well-fed on the best of the best
Entitled, abusive and offering – cake
as daily bread for the others; the rest

We have become - we are what we fear
What we vilify, resent and abhor
We are our own enemy, this now is clear
We are legion and yet…

…we want more

-June 2022