123 The Fall by Preston & Jackie Perry

Have you ever thought about what it must have been like for Adam and Eve have that conversation after the Fall, after they had become ashamed of what they had done and they had to come to grips with the new reality.  In this stunning piece of poetry, written by Preston and Jackie Perry, we see the two of them embodying Adam and Eve in a very intense exchange where they blame each other and then come to an understanding and resolution of this issue.  I found this piece to be at once melodic and beautiful, but also deep and profound.

—— Transcript ——

Eve:
So I guess it was convenient for you to turn your back on the woman who held your spine.

Adam:
Woman – you were brought fourth from my side- created to support me like the gravity stricken moon does to brisk breath of nightfall- but when fear clawed its way into my heart when he called my name in the garden you shrunk and hid your shameful body-

Both:
Where were you?

Eve:
When the prince of night found his way to your star, you watched him lie… I watched you sit and set like sun you morning of a man. You can’t even see the nightmare you have become.

Adam:
I was there, standing in the distance having a conversation with my backbone. I wanted to stop you but you let that evil reptile with eyes slow dancing with deceit and tongue swift as breeze woo you dumb to think we could be wise as the God who thought the galaxies into existence.

Eve:
Adam, I thought he was my friend, letting me in on secrets God pinky promised the leaves not to tell. He pointed me to the tree, told me of what I was missing and as my faith in his lies led me to stare, I watched death become gorgeous.

Adam:
But God is beautiful.

Eve:
Adam, my tongue became sight. The fruit looked too good not to-

Both:
Taste

Adam:
-and see that God is Good

Eve:
God is thief. He kept us from the one thing he knew would turn our minds deity.

Adam:
No God is wise, Eve cant you see? In our feast for knowledge we have become fools, searching for wisdom in a mere branch we forgot about the God who had the power to grow us from dust with no roots. His mind is wide as sky and we were free as clouds, but now the silent hum of shame echoes the land–the eerie chill of fathers curse crawls across our conscience and the very river we bathe our naked souls in is damned because of you.  What have you done?

Eve:
Do not blame me for murder and name yourself victim as if we are not both ghosts with skin.

Both:
You left me for dead. Did you forget the sixth day when God made you?

Eve:
From dust.

Adam:
But he made you from me for me! While sleeping he carved you from my caged bones beautiful, but you with your pride of dis-positioned switched positions and tried to lead, took heed to a snake without consulting me first. You didn’t respect me!

Eve:
He gave you authority. He made you the head of us but you became neck. I can still see the apple stuck in your throat, Adam. Swallow your pride. You were supposed to lead me, yet I am to blame? Your wife, your Eve, the one who is now shame once beauty the moment you saw her breath. Maybe, I should noose a ribbon around my neck, make a skirt of wrapping paper, stuff my natural naked chest with leaves. Maybe then these bones will be enough gift for you again, this flesh enough body for you to bathe in. The day you removed God from your soul. Emptied your nest of his glory is the day you begged me to take his place. Fill your voids, become this image of perfection to satisfy your insecurities.

Both:
God forbid.

Eve:
-Our sons grow up treating their sisters like cemeteries. Stacking their bodies and bones in one closet to wear as one flesh every time they want to feel alive.

Adam:
Eve please understand that you further prove my point. That prideful organ brewing beneath your breast beats with no submission for your husband. And for this your future daughters will not be quiet gentle, but some will be loud as nagging crows scavenging on the dead earlobes of men, their bodies sculpted for God’s glory will become lures enticing our sons to sin.  And they will. These women, your offspring, will hand there soul over to men who are not there God.  They’ll kneel for value at the altar of man’s approval, but that worship will not make then whole nor holy.

Both:
Do you see what you’ve done. You’ve made this about you by blaming me. We are both sin wrapped in flesh, both broken creations, stain glass windows with no shine, no sun, no light. We are both dark, imperfect, lost; We are fallen.

Adam:
Wife I am sorry have you any idea how shameful my insides scream for not protecting the only woman I’ve ever known and loved from the sting of death.  I feel like a lonely grave, wallowing in a walking coffin of a body, waiting for a voice louder than my fears to resurrect this scared corpse of a man I buried six feet under guilt. But believe me when I tell you, you are still the woman my vision sung to when I first saw you in Eden.  Eve even if God chose to separate us for a thousand years for what we have done, I’ll write you every day faithful and my letters will literally litter the land with love my lady. But, excuse me if the blood on my hands still drips thick with condemnation. I can only pray that this venom doesn’t poison our unborn son Cain. There is nothing but murder living in my genes and I would die if he follows in his fathers footsteps.

Eve:
Husband, forgive me and my limbs and the heart that led them away from the safety of your palms. The parachute folded beneath the bloodstream I left in vain. I promise I would never try to fly without you again. Your word is wind. And I would be a fool to disrespect the tornado I was created to love. You mentioned our son, but remember our God. Remember what he told devil as he cursed serpent: he spoke of my womb and from it a seed will come.

Both:
The devil will strike his heel, but our seed will crush his head. Yes, we… are… dying but one day we may rise from the dead. We are not hopeless… mercy has its sights set on us sinners and its source is our God.

Adam:
He will rescue us out of the sea of sin

Both:
like hands beneath a drowning soul

Eve:
a rainbow before the lightening bolt speaks.

Both:
He reigns!

Adam:
When the clouds break their shell, our God will appear and show us his yoke is easy.

Both:
A light too mighty for anything pitch black to trap our backs back behind that cage we craved. The way–of escape is near if we wait with hope, nailed to our faith, the truth–cross stitched to our burdened bodies, the life–stretching like the arms of an horizon rising for all to see the son still lives.

Adam:
Eve, forgive me.

Eve:
Adam, forgive me.

Both:
God, we tried to be our own God. Please forgive us.

—— Links ——

• Watch the YouTube video of “The Fall” here
• Jackie Hill-Perry’s website, YouTube channel
• Preston Perry’s website,YouTube channel
• Check out Podcast 81: My Life as a Stud (Jackie Hill-Perry)
• More from the Passion For Christ Movement (P4CM) here
• Intro music: “District Four” by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.