Meditation on Eve of Ghent

Eve, Wing from Ghent altarpiece, Cathedral of St. Bavo, Belgium, 15th century

In Ghent, the passive Eve
Her belly swollen
Disconnected from her Adam
Purviewed the subsequent
Histories of a new Eve
And a new Adam
Still she held the evidence
Of rebellion

What saint she was
          grasping the thing
          that subordinated her
What sinner she was
          believing, as she did, that
          godliness was contained in things

A Baptist, a Virgin
A crowd of angels and saints,
She stood among them unclothed
Dispossessed but possessed again
In the fulfillment of the promises
God made for her heirs
Despite her lapse in judgment

What durability she had
          planting and gathering
          making her way in a fallen world 

What fragility she suffered
          bearing in pain
          dominated by her Adam

Did she hope for redemption?
Did her heart foretell the suffering servant?

In the end, driven from the garden,
She was not deprived of the spectacle of her Christ