Liliths sin.

[darkness0within]

Liliths sin. 

A punishment to fit a crime, 

A sentence for the rest of time, 

Languishing in its tomb of stone, 

Is the demon that’s now all alone, 

Left choking for each tortured breath, 

A creature perpetually near death, 

Bound by gods own magic spell. 

That keeps her from that home called hell. 

The demon had cast her evil eye, 

And wished all good men to die, 

She was the first to crawl on earth, 

And see humanities hated birth, 

Corruption was the demons goal, 

To blacken each and every soul, 

The tree of life in Eden's shade, 

A serpent in her likeness made. 

Soft whispers full of promise spoke, 

So upon the apple Eve might choke, 

The innocence that that fruit would take, 

Humanities first real big mistake, 

So sin was born on Adams bite, 

That turned our paradise dark and cold as night, 

A shameful deed was Liliths sin, 

The creature who had made the fall of man begin. 

Darkness. 

[Deleted]

Interesting take on the old tale.

[darkness0within]

Yes... I took a few liberties with the tale Cat plant.

Thanks for reading.

[anirbas]

I prefer to think of Lilith as the first feminist. Not content to put up with Adam's posturing and mansplaining, to coin a "new age" term.
She quickly had enough of his arrogant overbearing manner and went off to follow her own pursuits.

However, that did not dim my enjoyment of this poem! Both opulent with allegory and gaunt with "first age" sin. Well written, as always, Darkness.

[darkness0within]

Thank you anirbas. Glad you enjoyed my take on this.

I've always had a problem with the whole Adam and Eve story. if you actually take it literally it becomes quite disturbing. I mean we all become one big happy related family don't we?

And then there is the Adams rib... Sounds like cloning to me to create Eve?

Perhaps I'm being pedantic about it? Though I haven't been struck by any thunderbolts of late.

[anirbas]

What I find equally fascinating and revolting about Christian dogma is that the Bible says, and this is the gist, that Adam and Eve were created in God's image. Therefore, that would stand to reason, God is both male and female. And that Adam and Eve were created at the same time, from the two halves of this god. Not first and later, the other. Why would this god create every other living thing in pairs, simultaneously, then only one being when this god got around to making humankind? No logic in that.

I am also repelled by the whole women are worth half as much as men verse, somewhere in Leviticus. Totally turned off by the man is the head of the house and the woman and children are his chattel fantasy envisioned in the Bible. But, not surprised. The Bible and the Torah and the Quran were all written by men. All denigrate women to one degree or another. Most of the women in the Bible are either Madonnas or whores; slaves and concubines. And the one interesting and intelligent woman with a mind of her own, Jezebel, is storied as being torn apart by roving dogs for her just desserts.

I've actually read the Bible, cover to cover, and when I was a child at that. I was forced to do adult Bible studies by my mother. And that book featured some of the most gruesome images I've ever seen in my entire life. It was illustrated with woodcut images, but, being in black and white made these pictures no more palatable. By the time I was twelve, I was already questioning this book my mother made me read and then do her adult Bible studies from. By the time I was fourteen, I already knew I was a feminist. And I took total umbrage to the portrayal of women in this "book". Started making my opinion known. That didn't go down well with my Stepford wife mother. Haha. By the time I was sixteen, I knew if I believed in a god, it certainly wasn't the version others seemed to believe in. By the time I was twenty-two, I gave up the pretense of pretending to believe the Christian dogma my parental unit and other adults adhered to. I came out as the atheist I was born as, in the first place.

Talk about being pedantic, you are not alone, Darkness.

[darkness0within]

Times were very different back then when this 'collection' of writings, some of which going back centuries were first put together. In many ways a more brutal world than today... But not much in some quarters.

A collection that documented in some cases real events as seen by the people from the past, past down in the oral tradition from generation to generation to be finally chronicled and set in stone, (so to speak). And subject to the odd tweak here and there over the centuries to make things fit better for those times.

In other cases it would seem to me a more social / political view of the time was laced through some texts. There is truth... But truth sometimes is in the eye of the beholder.

As you quite rightly say women were cut out of the 'good book'. One of the major edits done by the Vatican. Some who contributed to the collection of writings were women. Strange they were all removed. But not unexpected for that time.

Still old and new testament conflict in their approach it seems. The old testament is more akin to the oral traditions. Even with the new testament much of what is written was penned many years after the events portrayed through the texts. And of course Revelation of John which tells of our final fate in this world in the future. A vision.

There is poetic licence for many reasons I personally feel. However there is a truth also. Picking out what is what is probably almost impossible now to achieve. And that is why I feel so many interpretations abound. Though I also think the Vatican might still hold some clues... That is if they have not destroyed the evidence.

[anirbas]

Yes, I've heard tell of these parts of the Bible that were supposedly penned by women. And therefore edited by the Vatican. Everytime, down through the ages, its be translated and re-translated.

As for the "visions" of Revelations by John, I give as much credence to that, as I do the "visions" of any seer, even good old Nostradamus. Foretelling the future, is a fifty-fifty "science" at best, in my opinion. You're either dead right. Or dead wrong. As for me, I hope both guys are wrong. And our descendents right all that we and generations before us got wrong.

[darkness0within]

You've brought up a very important point anirbas... Translation.

Words are powerful, but they can lose their real meanings over time. Language changes as new words are created, while others fade into obscurity. Even a simple change to the nuance of words can change it's meaning, even in the language we use today. So ancient texts and oral stories of the past could be misinterpreted. Sometimes there may be no direct translation of certain words which may be crucial to the understanding of the writing, and you could end up with an approximation of what the writer or those telling the oral stories of the past wanted to convey. Ancient slang words also might muddy the waters in understanding.

I have always felt that to be able to move forward as a species we have to learn the lessons of the past. but we seem to make the same mistakes over and over again. Maybe one day the penny will drop. There is always hope.

[darkness0within]

I'll give you some old words I found on the net that are no longer in general use and their meanings as an example of what I've said.

Beldam... An old woman.

Fell... An animal skin.

Like enough... Probably.

Lucifer... A match.

Popinjay... a parrot.

Go-cart... A baby walker.

Habiliment... Clothing.

In sooth... Actually.

The meaning of words change, or just fade away. It's quite funny seeing the films of the 20's and 30's Where they say their feeling so gay, which in later years was one of many derogatory terms for a homosexual, and in more recent years the word has a different meaning of... well... I'll say 'not good'. An ever evolving process. We would struggle to understand someone from even 200 years ago, let alone 2000 years.

[anirbas]

I actually knew them all, save one, Darkness. Go-cart for a baby walker. I used to read the dictionary like it was a book...Big dork is me!
And you pick up all kinds odd words and phrases just reading books themselves.

[anirbas]

Wow. I just noticed this thread you started has had 272 views. Lilith is an interesting subject, she is.