ADAM & EVE - two poems (overlaid on painting)

ADAM and EVE

These are two complementary poems from my collection 'THE STILLNESS MOVES' (Outposts, 1970)

ADAM

This man, this image is the scheme

of things. This pure delight

he finds as he touches

the flesh of a woman. Man-made

this gift of God, the rib that grew

and blossomed to preserve

the blossoming. The man seeks entrance, strives

to heal the wound. Who can unite

these themes; this earth, these images,

his dreams - deeper than knowledge?

This man, this image is

the scheme of things -

within it and beyond.

Malcolm Evison

EVE

There and unknown; unknowing. This one

this moment is. There

and she does not know it. She is.

The man moves from his loneliness

toward her. She looks ahead,

her gaze, steady and confident. Her eyes

affirm the day. He cannot share it, sensing

that her lips betray, this confidence.

He reaches out to touch

her face, her lips tremblingly apart;

a silent fear disturbs

and beautifies. There are no words.

(She, he, wait for the mystery

to reveal itself).

The touch. Words drop their silent veil.

“Amen”, she says, discovering the word.

“Thank-you”, he says, discovering their power.

Together theirs is praise: separate and one.

Malcolm Evison