The serpent promised that they could rise above
The nature into which they had been created
By performing beneath it—
That in shunning the obedience,
They would become like
Him who is always
To be obeyed.
And most today will tell you that it was a lie—
And can prove as much by its outcome—
Even if it never occurs to them that
They could also prove it by the
Conflict in principles—as we
Know that up and down
Do not now lead us,
And have not ever
Led us, to the
Same end.
Even so, to this very day, that wicked promise
Echoes its unending temptation to man—
That he could somehow get ahead
By staining his very soul with
What he knows is wrong.
And just for the record,
To this very day, and
Up to this very hour
And this minute
And second,
It has yet
To work
Once.
