Silent Garden

It was not meant to be this way

Not meant to be so still, so quiet

The call of birds echo with no answer

A bounty, a blessing, an endless buffet

The table set, but never seated

Fruit falls, ripe but never rotten, uneaten

There should have been movement

Feet rushing over uneven ground

Hands reaching for glistening jewels

Dangling from branches just within reach

Leaves brushed aside by shoulders

The flash of light on a quickly turned head

This garden, this endless paradise

Of spring eternally reaching for summer

Was meant to be enjoyed

Created to embrace, nurture, grow

A celebration of life’s gifts

Filled with joy and laughter and love

The dream of an omnipotent God

Woken to despair by the purpose

It was created for

The irony of consequence

In every unwatched glory

In every unheard symphony

The glory of creation unappreciated

Until it was seen over a shoulder

Disappearing into the past

An undying memory passed from child to child

Generation to numberless generation

A warning, a lesson, a myth

What is gifted can be lost

In a moment of greed, a moment of disobedience

Free will, more expensive than any treasure

Paid in blood, in trials, in tribulations

Each propagation signals the continuation

Of wages earned in that one moment of sin

The Garden waits, silently, patiently

For the return of its reason

For the silence to be broken with the voice

Of beloved life, revered vitality

Light without the shadow of

Lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, anger, envy, or pride

Anticipation unsatisfied, hope unrealized

Acts of rebellion, no matter the size

Live far past their origin

Blocking the path with the debris of destroyed plans

Obstructing an entrance

That has been both hidden and forgotten

Designed for a purpose it no longer serves

A relic of an idea that no longer exists

What was cannot be again

When the piece that completes the picture

No longer fits as intended

There can be no return to the Garden

This poem was my first draft for a submission to Garden Gnome Publishing's Biblical Legends Anthology Series - it was completely wrong for what they were looking for, but I liked it so much I couldn't just trash it.  I love poetry, but I don't write much of it.  I may have to reconsider that.  So, what do you think?  Did the poem make sense?  Did it speak to you?  Did it make you scratch your head and wonder what in the world I was thinking?  Tell me in the comments!