Life is for the daimons and the demons
those that put honey on your lips and those that put salt.
D. H. Lawrence.
Small, prettily packaged
as a sphere. Sulphur yellow
pushing through blush pink
like the eye of a snake
Fascinator fashioned as fruit
just within reach.
Scrumptiously scrumped!
You held it outstretched;
an orb, gilt with pomp
and glory and pride
Daring to bare
wanting to taste
forbidden
to know why not
to seek what lies beyond
permission
Ah yes, how crisply sweet
permissive is
esters so astringent
my eyes narrowed
in unfamiliar ecstasy
And then that aftertaste;
acrid as sulphur
bitter like wormwood
a murderous manchineel
I throw your apple down
flyblown
turning brown
- title is an English proverb
- ‘scrump’ old fashioned English: ‘to steal fruit’; scrumptious – delicious taste
- manchineel: toxic fruit resembling an apple from Florida & S. America
For Dora’s Poetics prompt: Reimagining the Familiar I’m reframing the Temptation story
PoetryPix 