THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE

At the tree of knowledge sits an old, old man

With a coconut shell in his bony left hand,

Not a magician or a necromancer

Ask him a question and he gives you an answer.

He throws up the coconut, watches it fall

(I don’t really think that it matters at all)

But he ponders the way that it lands on the ground

Then answers your questions in phrases profound.

I asked him if there was a Heaven and Hell

He looked at me sagely, then threw up the shell,

It landed and rolled for a foot, maybe two

He studied its progress and said: “Well, it’s true,

”Heaven is there in a baby’s skin,

In the heart of the mother, there’s heaven within,

Paradise lives here in so many things

Including the magic that happiness brings.

“Hell is on Earth, you can ask anyone

Who’s watched children die in the African sun,

For want of not more than a mouthful or two,

This is the answer the shell’s given you.”

I think of him now as I sit down to eat,

Remember the answer I heard at his feet,

Everywhere that I look Heaven catches my eye,

And I minimize Hell, well at least now I try.