Adam Cast Forth

Was there a Garden or was the Garden a dream?

Amid the fleeting light,

I have slowed myself and queried,

Almost for consolation, if the bygone

Over which this Adam, wretched now, once reigned supreme,

Might not have been just a magical

Of that God I dreamed.  Already it's

In my memory, the clear Paradise,

But I know it exists, in flower and profusion,

Although not for me.  My punishment for

Is the stubborn earth with the incestuous

Of Cains and Abels and their brood;

I await no pardon.

Yet, it's much to have loved, to have known true joy,

To have had — if only for just one day —The experience of touching the living Garden.

Translated by Genia Gurarie, 4.1.

retained by Genia Gurarie.email: permission to reproduce, write personally to the translator.