After "Schindler's List"

Angeline Yap

when Eve disclosed
and Adam chose
the fruit of the unsanctioned tree
that untimely knowledge grasped
came to our hands and we
we eat the fruit of slavery

the good i would
i do not do
the evil I abhor
stalks me, and is crouching at my door

a list
- a list of names
- somebody's father
- someone's friend
- a child
- a face
- the comfort of a hand

when good is stained
or left discarded, unattained;
when some good must be left undone
that any may be done at all;

when we refuse (again) to choose
again we fall

we fall again
who harbour Cain
averting eyes
while Abel bleeds and dies

a list
a list of choices to be made

   forgive the good we leave undone
   the evil that we entertain
Father forgive us our choices!

a list - a shopping list
a list of things to do
a list of needs
(a list of greeds?)
a list of choices
asking to be made

   and every choice
implying an exclusion

a list
a list to make
(the good I would
I do not do)

O Father!

Written in 1996.

Last modified: 20 December 2000