Leaving Eden

You see it in the rear-view,
As you pull away.
It never was  —

The petals always wilt.

The green always fades.

The sun always sets.
All in your mind,
A fool and his ideas.

You bit the apple.

Happens every time.

Tell me why, though, when

You look in your cracked 

Reflection, part divine, part human,
Where ecstasy and pain intersect,

You still see paradise?