PARADISE: A TRUE CONFESSION
Most of you know me as Eve. Some call me Lilith.
Maybe you recognize me from the tabloids —
Eden’s Castaway, The Woman Who Lost Everything.
Shame, they said, is her middle name.
I lived in Eden, the place where nothing ever changed,
where I woke each day to blue sky perfection, but
sometimes a woman needs a taste of salt and lemon,
sometimes a woman needs a little more.
My poor husband, Adam, doggedly faithful and dazed
with desire, he simply lacked imagination.
Loving me too well was his only sin —
the rest just collateral damage.
Believe me, God planned the whole thing when we
were still dust, before Lucifer spilled from the sky
and hell became real. We were framed! We were
pawns, puppets who never saw the strings.
The tree pulsed glossy green.
The ruby-dark fruit glinted and gleamed.
The serpent was gold satin, teasing me, leading me
on, temptation no more than a sibilant whisper.
The mystery was simply irresistible.
I reached out and touched my own soul.
I took a gamble and lost. No going back, no second chances.
Sure, I got blamed. The game was fixed. We always lost, but
here’s what really stings — God said He loved us
but knew from the start just how hungry we were.
Peggy Liuzzi lives with her husband and their cantankerous beagle Maizie in Syracuse, NY. There Peggy practices Tai Chi, collects cookbooks, and participates in the YMCA Downtown Writers Center. Her work has been featured in Stone Canoe, Nine Mile Magazine, Slippery Elm, Gyroscope Review, and other publications.
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