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Canto I

A great horn droned loudly as the huge eastern gates of Eden closed behind us.
We turned to look up at them, and in the presence of such immensity, we felt humbled:
As they dwarfed us like ancient trees towering before two newly-formed saplings,
Such was the scale of the architecture of God's garden.

We turned and surveyed the world from our new vantage and knew, with a sense of loss,
That we would never again feel the kind breath of Eden's winds upon our bodies,
Or taste the sweet tears of its refreshing rains, or behold the luxuriant glory
Of all that our Great Father had created within His garden, our 'place of delight'.

A stillness lay upon the land, as if the world itself was waiting with bated breath
To see what we, the parents of humanity, would do
As we embarked upon our first journey into the night of the wider world
And experienced for ourselves an existence full of great risk and hardship.

I held my beloved's hand - the hand of Eve - she who would become the mother of all the living.
There was a sense of hesitation in her eyes, as if she had become apprehensive
By the exposure to our new environment and the ramifications of our banishment.
She wanted to stay in Eden, as did I, but she now feared the uncertainty of our fate.

Neither of us knew what lay ahead, but with gentle words and reassurance
I led her forward, and as our cautious strides took us further from our true home
And closer to the desolateness of the wilderness that lay beyond,
So feelings of longing and regret were uppermost in our minds and hearts.

Beyond the threshold of Eden a moon lay low, like the lantern of God,
In subdued luminance: full and large, with wisps of grey cloud drifting slowly across it.
An incredible landscape lay stained by its pallid light,
And the world appeared wild, imposing and blasted by the eroding wind of centuries;

And despite the filtering effect of the moon's pale light upon it,
It lay coloured by the reddish earth that was indigenous to its dramatic genesis:
Huge mountains, fantastically contoured, with sharp ridges and dangerous precipices,
Created a brooding presence to the north-east of us.

To the east, there lay a low-lying, desolate wasteland: where little vegetation was
Discernable, but many shadows, pits and hidden crevices were prevalent;
And to the south east, rose more hills, steep gorges and barren gullies.
The world appeared uninviting to our eyes and the sight of it did little to lift our hearts.

It was the first time that we realized what it was like to feel a sense of aloneness in the world.
Although it was our destiny to be exiled and to be sent beyond the rim of paradise,
We hoped, in our hearts, that some of the great angels, born into existence by our Creator,
Would watch over us as we journeyed into the unknown world.

Language, communication and sensory understanding occurred naturally to us
From the moment we were first brought into living awareness.
Adam was the name I was given and 'man' was the name by which my physical form was known;
And 'woman' was the name by which my companion's physical form was known.

Months we had passed in each other's company within the great stone walls of Eden:
Our paradise had stretched far and contained rivers, hills, woods, wide open grassy spaces,
Plants of all kinds, as well as a great diversity of beasts and insects.
It was wide and fertile and luxuriant in colour and life.

Even from the crest of the highest hilltop, we could not see beyond the mighty walls of Eden,
Such was their greatness in height: but then, we had no desire to see what lay beyond;
For we did not wonder, not even out of curiosity, as to what lay beyond our beautiful garden.
Eden was our home, our birthplace - our cradle - and our sanctuary,

And it was our hope that we would spend our days there, surrounded by its perfection.
Comfort we had known in Eden: for our Father had provided for us
And had ensured that we were always looked after and nurtured with tenderness and affection.
But we had discovered knowledge from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil;

And because of this, discomfort we would now endure: for cursed was to be the ground,
And in sorrow, we were to eat of it all the days of our lives.
Dreams we had also known in Eden: that strange sensation when the body rested
Yet the mind still seemed to experience occurrences and situations as it did when awake,

Which seemingly continued to affect the sensory faculties of which we were equipped.
Yet these happenings did not seem so real as the happenings which occurred to us
When our bodies and minds seemed as one, during the day;
And so we quickly learnt to tell the difference between dreams and wakefulness.

In much the same way, as we took our first steps from paradise,
So we felt a strange dreamlike change come over the way we perceived the world;
And where moments before, we had been standing by the eastern gate,
The next moment, we found ourselves being mysteriously transported:

As if carried quickly, by invisible hands, through the air
Towards a steep, rocky hill, squeezed between two immense mountains;
And upon it, there was an ancient dwelling place, created for a creature far larger
In stature than ourselves, carved entirely from rock that rested upon massive foundations.

Rough, pockmarked towers and windswept turrets, exposed to the moonlight,
Rose irregularly into the air like the tapered pinnacles of giant termite nests;
Crudely carved passageways and winding, narrow stairways
Led to decaying balconies and lofty open terraces.

Above these, stood a huge ruin, which jutted eerily from the topmost part of the hill
Like a blasted crown that had been abandoned by its ancient denizen
And left to crumble to the mercy of the harsh elements and the passing of millennia,
For so old was this place that it could even have been as old as Eden.

Soon after, we found ourselves standing freely on one of the more imposing terraces,
Which commanded a dramatic view of the strange moonlit world.
An unnatural stillness permeated the place: the stone, the dust,
And the earth lay hushed and undisturbed by a dry, motionless air.

We wandered cautiously over to the edge of the terrace,
Where a part of it had long ago fallen away,
And peered down into a dispiriting gloom of dust and broken masonry.
An atmosphere of eternal evil hovered darkly over the entire place,

Which unsettled our minds and perturbed our hearts as we strove to understand our situation;
And from out of the encompassing quietness, there emerged the sound of a low, sepulchral voice,
Which spoke from the very air and came not from the form of a living body as we expected;
And this made the bodiless voice more unsettling to us.

It spoke of riches and gains that would increase our happiness and worldly comfort;
It offered things to us: the promise of a home, sustenance, clothing for our bodies,
Power over other creatures and a knowledge of secrets, visions
And the art of seeing into the future.

It told us we would be provided for if we were to make a covenant with it and to pledge
To forever turn our thoughts, memories and feelings away from our true Father;
But such was the love we had for our Father, even though we were being punished by Him,
We could not forget His kindness and love in creating and providing for us, nor stop loving Him;

And so we refused to co-operate with the voice, which angered the voice.
Thunder rumbled overhead; a wild, unexpected wind whipped the ancient dust off the ground
And, for a moment, it seemed as if the most disturbing and malevolent elements of nature
Had been unleashed and the world had plunged into sudden darkness.

A sense of great foreboding fell upon us: it was then, that we knew we needed help.
But then, the dreamlike strangeness lifted from us and our minds became filled with clarity,
And we found ourselves once again a short distance from Eden's eastern gate,
Where a fiery sword flared fiercely as a warning to those who would challenge God's garden.

All trace of the voice and its evil intent was gone:
Some form of help had clearly intervened on our behalf, yet had acted unseen
And brought us swiftly and safely back to our real bodies
Without any lasting harm being done to us. Had our Father sensed our plight? I wondered.

I looked at the gate: surmounting it was an imposing entablature of monumental sculpture,
Carved by the most ancient architect, upon which, two mighty cherubim:
Fearsome winged creatures with terrifying countenances,
Guarded the immense gates to prevent unholy intruders from entering the garden.

The great flaming sword hovered and blazed in the air directly above the entablature,
As if held by mighty invisible hands, and turned in every direction, ready to guard against evil,
Ready to protect the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge and Good and Evil;
Its huge blade illuminated the air with the great strength of God's power.

It was decided that man and woman, and all their future offspring,
Would not be entirely forsaken in the world; for God had created us for a purpose:
Each would be provided with an angel in order to guard and protect their spiritual well-being;
And, so that man and woman would not forget their connection to the Light of God,

From which all things were originally conceived and created,
He permitted one of His chief angels to bestow to us a wonderful gift.
And so it was, that on that night, as we stood by the gate, a great angel appeared before us,
Robed brightly in golden magnificence and shining as brightly as the light of God's sword;

And without needing words to convey its expression of sadness at our leaving,
The angel wept out of sympathy for our plight and, out of love for our affection to our Father,
The Maker of all things, it enveloped us in its blissful light for a time
And in its beautiful presence, Eve and I experienced the tranquillity of angels.

Movingly, we watched as the angel collected a solitary tear from its eye:
Around it there immediately formed a glasslike phial
That would forever seal and contain its angelic light and compassion.
The angel smiled at us with an endearing purity as it handed the phial to me and blessed us.

At the touch of the gift, courage was immediately restored to our hearts.
A small golden casket was given to Eve, so the phial could be enclosed in appropriate beauty:
It was ornately designed and shone with a warmth that gladdened our hearts.
In addition to this priceless gift, other presents were brought forward:

A bull and two cows were presented to us, so that in the wilderness we would have sustenance;
And a ram and an ewe, and also a cockerel and two hens were given.
We were told that they would never stray from us because they were from our Father;
But we were to treat them kindly and provide for them in return; and then the great angel left us.

We journeyed a considerable distance across the land that lay to the south east of Eden;
Yet even after walking for most of the night with our guardian angels and our precious gifts,
Whenever we paused and turned to look back at the desolate path we had taken,
The mighty walls of Eden always drew our eyes.

The fiery sword was like a beacon: a marker in the night, which shone fiercely,
Reminding us of where our true home had once been.
Yet now, we had to find a new refuge,
And this would only come about by our own efforts and courage,

For we had to survive by using our own ingenuity and practical endeavour
And could not always rely on guidance or practical assistance from our guardian angels
Who, although they were always visibly present, they were not always in communication with us
And at times they held back so we might cope for ourselves, through our own efforts.

It came to pass, whilst resting on a small mound not far from the mouth of a wide gorge,
That we meditated on our plight and on what course of action we should take.
Together, we held the golden casket, which contained the angel's tear
And prayed to our Father, and asked that our time in the wilderness would not be too hard.

We sensed that, ultimately, we had to care for ourselves and make our own decisions:
Only by doing this would we become strong, resourceful and adept in our new surroundings.
It would become our standard, that no matter what befell us, we would always endeavour
To remain devoted, through love, to God and to each other,

And to also teach our descendents about their true lineage,
Which began in the paradise of Eden.
The truth of the human race's origins would not be lost or forgotten:
As the parents of humanity, we would remind our descendents,

Of the real happiness and sense of belonging we experienced when we were in God's care.
And if we were to stand any chance of redeeming ourselves,
Then we would always ensure the truth prevailed, not only from out of daily devotion to God,
But, more importantly, from the way in which we conducted our lives.

 

Written by Mark Woollacott
April 2005.