the serpent says I should

and he doesn't

seem wrong

you know...

I do have choices

and I could pluck

the fresh fruit

from where

it grows

 

all this

for the forbidden flavors

oh! they would drain me

of my innocence

they bestow a dose

of fear and fight

but do stave off

the ignorance

 

I know the seeds 

can get stuck

in your throat 

sometimes...

but the serpent

whispers confidentially

under the bowing branches

of the tree

'the pain is worth the prize'

 

so I bit into the flesh

and the juice did stain my teeth

I used to be of

very starkly white color

and now I’m filthy, haggard, mean

 

of course the serpent lied

and now temptation thrives

latching onto porcelain skin

with jagged teeth

embedded deep

gaining life from

the trust that has died

and the flaws I have

no option but

to keep

 

 

I was seduced

by the snake

he did guide my hand

to the fruit

and

now my burdens

are all tinted blue

with a splotch of black

perhaps mottled purple too

like a just bitten bruise

because

without the film over my eyes

I see the world

for what it honestly construes

still I drag my feet forwards

against the sickly sweet syrup

of the lies

to meet with what cannot

be changed

I am an adult now

newly turned eighteen

thanks to this

I am vividly afraid

but I think that...

that, in and of itself,

is okay

 

I am basking in

the dawn that says

bring your yesterdays to me

I am forged from my faults

my past has been

newly baptized-

stripped down by the sun's

radiant sheen

 

I've gathered the weeds

in my mind

and then flicked 

on the lighter

and like pictures

of an old flame

my sorrows

quickly catch fire

 

I am what I am

I am what you see

and what

you do not see

but heed my words

now, please:

for your sake...

do not dare tread on me.