The Forbidden Fruit Poem by Chukwuebuka Adebayo

'Before i tried my bite of it
I felt uncivil and churlish,
I never taught of leaves as clothing
Neither a hide from tunics of a boar
..........I was free, yes I was free;
Smooth-floating round, sliding around
Like as of a little naughty child,
Running nakedly up and down
streets, no world scold my nasty play
I felt no shame, no shame it pleased me.
____________
We were two but love made us one
I was an angel and he was immortal
We were like two beautiful fawns,
He was sliver-blue as a new moon
And i was red and gold as setting sun
We were adam and eve in old eden;
We were sacred, the first to taste love
A day i asked for something different
I sought his favour, my heart desired it
I wanted it but he told me I couldn't have it.

_____________
The more and more he tells me
More it made me more desirable.
I sensed he was frightened,
Seemed he was withholding
Something tasty from me.
Yet I pressed for it even more
he cautioned as a doctor would do
his patient that I couldn't eat it.
........I felt light within as he kissed out
Golden thousand lotus from my opened mouth.
_________________
He brought it out of his bag
It looked bold and straight
like a spider dragging its web
He spoke tongues, tried the magic
and he turned me into a tree
with roots growing above
and branches waving beneath
He threw a stone, a stone at me
And I fell for him a ripped fruit
As he groaned loudly like a ape shot in the chest.
______________
His snake bruised my head,
I loosed my immortality to 'yama'
I ended up dying that day;
and was buried without him
To spread roses upon my grave
Nothing is holier, 'I taught
I felt less guilt and less innocence
I remained beautiful and untainted
despite the muddy and all dirts;
He spat on me, despite all that was done.
÷2017
•Toby Moses