Expulsion

Expulsion

after Masaccio

Out, out, for ever – doomed and expelled.
Blamed and cursed for eating the forbidden fruit.
Earth feels the wound, and all the stricken world
is dumb. The Invisible Almighty
sends his Covering Cherub down
in robes of violently flaming red –
with brutal sword erect, poised to descend,
Divide and Rule its one eternal Law.
Hiding his face in shame behind his hands,
Adam is wracked by guilt that has no end,
his lovely shining loins exposed to view –
holding the seed of all our labour, pain and woe.
Eve’s neck, stretched backwards, speaks
her agony; uplifted eyes and howling mouth
betray the harrowing desolation.
Her hands protect her genitals,
shutting her husband out, as both are now
forever shut from innocence and joy.
Not hand in hand, but fallen and divided
by guilt, anxiety and fear of death
through Earth they take their devastated way.