Twin Histories

Pandora thinks of Eve with a twinge,
imagines the lush garden
of fig trees, palm fronds, the dates and pears,
flowers as large as her face
inviting bees for a drink.

Eve had an apple and a snake
and she was made of a genuine rib.
Pandora came straight from the mud
with no living tissue in her lineage,
only the selfish gods bickering over their toys.

She imagines Eve's dilemma,
whether to share such fruit—
but when he swallowed knowledge,
was the sky cloaked by locusts?
Did the wind hiss against their skin?

Pandora wanted only to know,
a quality esteemed in a scholar.
Her trial might have been a test
of her own volition. From another master,
curiosity could have been required.

She rehearses the twin histories:
first mother, mother of chaos.
Eve went on to have a family,
troubled as that clan became.
Pandora's story paled in a bitter wind.