Ribbed, malnutritioned, unhallowed eyes knuckle mine
And without turning I see in wintry desert climes
A thing to be desired above all others
A taste to consume and be consumed by
A reign of terror sublime where worms meet flesh
Of tree-fruit hung, mouth-watering pulp of initiation
Plucked, bitten off, in excess of secret concupiscence
In ravishment of the verboten, for that which I hate,
I had done, and thus doing, am undone, the unmaggoted
Fruit in its rainbow pride turning to dust and ashes
in my mouth. For I have traded a Love without price
For emaciated fruited-husks littering the fields of deceit
Yet again, an unslumbered hungering malice ever-stalking
At my heels, until out it comes, the vinegared indigestible
Bulk of it spilled vomitously, wretched retchings of a fool
Words and deeds like knives ungorged flying mercilessly
And I with unclean hands, naked in the cool of the evening
Hidden, yet sought, drawn to the hallowed treed shade where
Gratuitously, there is room for me, manna for me, Bread of life,
Water that quenches my thirst, Whose wine-dark blood
Spent in mercy divine washes over and covers me so
To walk at last in honeyed valleys and orchards free.
Song of Songs 2:3
[She]: As an apple tree among the trees of the forest,
so is my beloved among the young men.
With great delight I sat in his shadow,
and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
Photo by Alan Cabello from Pexels Kim for dVerse Poetics gives us a "fruity prompt" to bite into: a poem about fruit appealing to the senses. Click on Mr. Linky for more and join in!
Dreams from a Pilgrimage 
So much to love with this text, you have really made a rich poem drawn from the bible’s stories, temptations but also a sense of returning to the shade of the tree
Love your use of turning nouns into verbs… creates great movement.
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Björn,
Loving your generous feedback! Neologizing came easily with this one just for the purpose you discerned, since movement from the tree of Eden to the tree of Calvary was my central preoccupation.
Thanks again.
~🕊Dora
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Oh, I love the winding theological journey you took us on with this one Dora! Our tasting of forbidden fruit… much like eating strawberries in winter. Look good but hard and tasteless. Very good ending with a complete make over and fruit off the vine!.
I thought at the end you were going to take us into the forbidden fruit of gossip that we love to bit into. So much of that going on. We do need the Fruit of Life to bring us back to the reality of what we are doing and saying.
Well done!
dwight
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Dwight,
Thank you so much! I’m eating this up, your kind words and perceptions, especially today. (WP informs me I began this blog exactly seven years ago!) I love the concrete ways you see the implications of what’s said and unsaid, so vividly enriching my thoughts as well. Yes, we need the Fruit of Life, Christ as the Way and the Truth, realized daily in all that we do and think and say! To Him be the glory as He enables us to do so.
~🕊Dora
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You are very welcome Dore. I do enjoy the depth you bring to your poems and the spiritual aspects you weave into them!
We are almost exactly two years apart on blogging. I will have five years in another week or so. Keep up the good work!
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God willing, we’ll be blogging for His glory for years to come! You’ve blessed me with yours.❤️ :>)
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Thank you and you for me as well!
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I cannot match the two previous comments but will tell you that this was a delight to read. I have to go back and read it again. Slowly.
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Dale,
I’ve come to expect just such sweetness of comments from you! Thank you so much.
~🕊Dora
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Now that is sweet to say!
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Glad to say it! ❤️🕊
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💞
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I loved the passion in these lines. Warning, catastrophe, promise, rescue. Wonderful!
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Jon,
It’s all so personal. I was dead but now I’m alive because of Christ. Hard to keep the passion out of it! But no need to tell you that.
~🕊Dora
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This was quite a ride to go on, and I loved each sensuous description. So vivid and dark.
“or I have traded a Love without price
For emaciated fruited-husks littering the fields of deceit
Yet again, an unslumbered hungering malice ever-stalking
At my heels, until out it comes, the vinegared indigestible”
I just love this, and it’s like art: empowering, impactful, and vivid. Each of it shapes an evocative scene.
“Of tree-fruit hung, mouth-watering pulp of initiation
Plucked, bitten off, in excess of secret concupiscence”
SWOON.
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Lucy,
I’m swooning at your kindness and your likening it to art: had not thought of the “shapes” formed by the words till now and I want to be more conscious of how that works, in your words and mine. Thank you.
~🕊Dora
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Oh my goodness, Dora! I used to sing ‘Jesus Christ the Apple Tree’ at school, and it was one of my favourite songs! There is a very high note that not many of us could reach. Your poem is rich with imagery and biblical references, a walk through the garden of Eden. I love the way the fruit emerges from the ‘wintry desert climes’ in the first stanza, a ‘mouth-watering pulp of initiation’, which, in the second stanza, becomes a punishment: ‘unmaggoted fruit in its rainbow pride turning to dust and ashes’. You conveyed Eve’s despair so clearly in the ‘unslumbered hungering malice ever-stalking at my heels’, and the final stanza is full of hope and thanks.
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Kim,
Many thanks for your thoughtful comments. I loved that song the moment I heard it but I’ve never sung it except in the shower where I’ll only hurt myself reaching for that ‘parlous’ high note!
~🕊Dora
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Beware the forbidden fruit, which promises much but delivers only bitterness! Well said 🙂
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Ingrid,
Thank God for the sweetness of His Word. He more than makes up for the bitterness we have tasted.
~🕊Dora
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