Peccatum Originus - poem by E. H. Janzen

Peccatum Originus 

Circling this tree we wondered

what mystery lay behind

the fruit of our question

We put distance between us

and the boughs heavy with temptation

branches reaching out like hands and talons

to gather us in like

fish fighting the shame baited barbed hooks

so brutally adorned with lures of light

that draws us without an chance to escape

And coming round again

we are surprised, feigning innocence

in the face of the partaking, the peeling,

of the cursed answer.

Spitting bitter seeds we

are shocked at the naked darkness

that drives us to point crooked fingers

of fearful blame

and broken trust.

We thought we could be far more

that what we are,

willing victims of blatant hubris

the rotten core of our

peccatum originus

Circling the shining tree

I wept for a future I had yet

to see... 

eh janzen

Comments

[Eric H Janzen]

Thanks Wayne...always nice to hear that someone enjoyed something you've written.
Funny thing too is that I just recently was told about Girard and mimetics after telling someone else about the poem...guess I should maybe check it out.

cheers,
eric

[Wayne Northey]

Thanks, Eric. Your poem captures well the tragedy of "desire" turned inward. An outstanding book, with chapter 2 teasing out the dynamics of desire in Genesis is: "The Genesis of Desire" by Jean-Michel Oughourlian (Michigan State University Press). He has been impacted by the work of René Girard on understandings of mimetic desire. His book offers compassion and explanation, above all hope, for relationships broken by the ravages of desire.

In this context we (must) learn to confess: "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God... (Psalm 42:1)". Gerald May says in "Addiction and Grace" that God is the only non-addictive "entity" in the universe. Hence Jesus' supplying the two greatest commands as our ticket to salvation/freedom.

Thanks again. Wayne