Adam and Eve in Later Life

On getting out of bed one says, "Ouch!"
The other "What?" and when the one says, "I said
'Ouch'," the other says, "All right, you needn't shout."

Deucalion and Pyrrha, Darby and Joan, Philemon and Baucis,
Tracey and Hepburn-- if this can happen to Hepburn
No one is safe-- all rolled up into two,
Contented with the cottage and the cottage cheese 
And envied only by ambitious gods...

Later, over coffee, they compare the backs of their hands
And conclude they are slowly being turned into lizards
But nothing much surprises them these days.

--Howard Nemerov, (1920-1991)



Image: Hendrik Goltzius, The Fall of Man, 1616