Gospel According to Adam

Wouldn't you think God's first man
had a thing or two to say on the
subject of this Jesus fellow?
A few of his disciples had their
go, and I want to know why no one
ever thought to ask me, or rather,
the memory of me, the ghost of me,
if you will. Well, this son of man
as he liked to call himself
certainly was full of sage,
if a bit quaint, aphorisms and
quotable snippets and pithy
turns of phrase. But, I mean,
"Do unto others as you would have
them do unto you"? Come on. Anyone
who's walked this godforsaken earth
for more than a day would tell you
that's a plain fact of life.
It's not like we really have
a choice in the matter; if
a person were to do unto others
as he would NOT have done unto him,
well, that person is plumb
screwed. Every man reaps just what
he sows; this I can tell you from
hard-won experience. All Im saying
is that carpenter should well have
stayed where he was. What good did
he ever do, really, for people, for
these ones I should call MY children?
So his legacy saves a few prostitutes
and drunks, so what? We're talking
about a few souls every year saved
from their own damnation. And look
at the world. See how they trammeled
my once-beautiful garden. True, we
were kicked out, or so they say,
but don't you know,we wanted to go
anyway. We let him say he
kicked us out to let him save face.
I shouldn't think the fact of
our dismissal gives the race
a right to bring hellfire and
welter to these once-grand lands.
No, in fact, I'm sure it doesn't.
This is what I would put down
in MY gospel: we asked for the chance
to make it on our own, not for
the opportunity to ensure
our own destruction.

(2008)