Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, FRUIT OF THE TREE, by JOEL T. ROGERS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

FRUIT OF THE TREE, by                    
First Line: In the dark ocean which rolls a molten world
Last Line: God wept, for heaven seemed hollow ...
Subject(s): Adam & Eve; Bible; Creation; Women


IN the dark ocean which rolls a molten world beneath the hammers of sunset,
In the majestical mountains which strike the heavens with sudden spears,
In the heavy mystery of the earth, tearing the veils, and the flesh which is but

a veil,
Yes, in the stars which roll onward through destinies, inexorable, yet knowing
not ends nor their places,
In these have I sought repletion of longing, satiety, fulness of longing.
I have found it not. I have found it not. Tell me, you spirits of earth, you
women,
Why sweeter are your arms, and the gift of your body, which you sell for a night

and a purple garment,
Than all the lofty flights of the soul, which knows the outermost comets.

By the salt sea I went, past cloud, and wind, and star, and moon to chaos,
Where the earth went by with flickering bale, a firefly at night in terrible
forests.
There nothing the greatest God might behold of an island ringed by her oceans.
Nor of a city built on that island of straw and clay on sinking sands,
Or of a house where the red rose blossoms, or of a couch in a room of hidden
shadows.
When the shadows deepen, and the red rose falls, and the sands are sunken in
tidal waters,
And the flickering bale goes out, where will you be, O girl, the well-beloved?
Even there, even there, in unutterable chaos, I cried on you, Elena!

At the cool of the evening God walked alone in the garden along the lanes of the

roses,
Knowing the fulness of creation, of what his hands had builded, of good and
evil.
Fulness of creation; all things are ended because of the power of beginning and

end
Which lies in the immaculate hands. And the dusk came down, and the summer
night.
Then in a turn of the lane in the garden, where the dark roses cover the ground,

and the crimson
Are heavy and drowsy, where the humming bird darts, and the drunken moths beat
silken shadows,
Lay Adam, lord of creation, star-gazer, moulder of idols, and in his arms the
woman.
God wept, for heaven seemed hollow ...





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net