Eve Discusses Adam’s First Wife by Gail White

You tell me me Lilith has become a fiend,

a vampire, a screech-owl, one who preys

on children (I have three and she has none),

sentenced for disobedience to run wild,

hideous now, howling for all she lost.

You tell me I was taken from your side

that I might always find a refuge there,

a warm and nestling creature like the cat,

safe from the free but haunted world of dark.

And I’ve adjusted splendidly, I think.

My apple fritters are the best you’ll eat,

go where you will. I keep domestic life

tidy and clean. I never stir abroad

for fear of Lilith’s shriek and bat-like wings.

Yet when our first son killed our second son,

I—the good mother and obedient wife—

had one quick moment’s envy of her life.

Bio

Gail White is a contributing editor of Light Poetry Magazine and a frequent contributor to formalist poetry journals and anthologies. She is a 2-time winner of the Howard Nemerov Sonnet Prize. Her most recent books, Asperity Street and Catechism, may be found on Amazon. She lives in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana with her husband and cats.

Author's note

I've always been fascinated by the rabbinic ideas about Lilith, presented as Adam's first wife, who presumed on equality with him because of their simultaneous creation, so was demoted to demon status and replaced by the (presumably) more obedient Eve, born in Eden. I have tried to contribute to the story by imagining Eve imagining Lilith.

This poem originally appeared in the Amethyst Review online on February 2, 2023.