Two Sonnets

Peter Paul Rubens,
Satyr and Maid with Fruit Basket, 1615

233 words

Φαυνος*

Nature clutches at shanks, rips tender skin,
Pulls and swipes and trips up the unwary
Who wander too deeply to find ways in
To places undiscovered. Thick burry
Weeds, brambled vines, branches hung with poison
Thorns, leaves that sting and stalks that cut across
Like whips all lie in patient wait for them
Who would explore the pathless woods because
Nature does not like to share its world, does
Not care for trampling feet and pushing hands,
That thrust themselves into the wild. There was
Never any agreement made with plants
To abide with man. Nature knows too well:
Humanity will always find and tell.

*PHAUNOS–god of the forests

Herman Wilhelm Bissen, Ydun, 1858

Idunna Speaks To The Abrahamics

You tell me that your creation myth has
A garden, a tree, an apple, a snake,
Plus the obligatory two. It was,
You point out, the apple that was to make
All the difference between your story
And the others. The apple, in yours, had
Been forbidden as food. Therefore glory
Was placed on obedience; choice was bad.
People are people; your two simply were
Typical: they got tempted, bit, were thrown
Out, called the snake Satanic, discovered
They needed to wear clothes, and on their own
They begat a mortal world based on sin…
Don’t wonder why I look at you chagrined.