Swimming, head above lake surface,
sideways motions propel to shore.
Water snake, both realms its home,
returns to banked burrow.
Fascinated, watching this creature.
What story does the serpent tell?
Beautiful, original human nature;
height from which we first fell.
A tale long forgotten,
losing sight of the divine.
Why did we cast away imagination,
enter into material’s prison?
Snake made for belly-crawling,
skeleton showing limb’s vestiges.
Once it could rise and look up,
observe cosmos above.
Now fearing sun and moon,
thrown from significance to ground,
skulking amid bushes and reeds,
set its face against earth’s dominant species.
We are human divine,
stewards of created earth,
made for life beyond survival
yielding our free will to
swimming subtle seducer,
wishing greater place of authority.
Thwarted in dominance’s desire,
invited us: “Eat fruit of forbidden tree.”
© Phil Kemp 2026
