A sun-warmed apple dangled from a branch
above the heads of children unaware,
content among the animals and plants
to play their simple games without a care.
But limbs grow, eyes turn skyward, minds open
to wond’ring, craving, tasting knowledge sweet
enough to rot: from higher thought falls sin
as conscience cripples, reason blinds the beast.
Bereft of youth and teeth, they charge ahead
to chase their tails: blaze trails across Earth’s face
in God’s name claim, maim, tame the wild dead
and fell the Tree of Knowledge in their haste.
Now headless, heartless, homeless, and betrayed,
their genius led from garden to the grave.