Some points Eve would like to make
Some points Eve would like to make (2016)
by Harriet Katz
Annie Gill, soprano
Tim McReynolds, piano
Baltimore, November 19, 2016
www.harrietkatzmusic.com
Lyrics:
You know my namesake’s story.
It has no glory.
It’s even gory,
this tale told way back when
by men.
Eve gets all the blame.
They say she started shame.
They claim
because she didn’t heed what the man at the top said,
and shared a piece of fruit instead,
that she unleashed the peril:
our knowledge of good and evil.
I’d like to make a point
about the myth they coined.
Evil would still exist
even if Eve did desist.
It’s all around us,
it’s deep within us.
The worst thing about humanity—
the fact that we kill each other—
is blamed on our supposedly first family,
especially the mother.
I’d like to make a point about my family.
Our lives are not a hell.
I raised my sons well!
Cain is a landscape architect
and Abel a veterinarian.
Some sibling rivalry when they were very young,
but now they’re decent, caring men.
Fratricide? No way!
Fratricide, sororicide,
matricide, patricide, infanticide,
homicide, genocide!
Eve didn’t start this.
Let’s hope we can end it.
I’d like to make just one more little point.
I’m sure my namesake’s story’s made of fibs.
But just in case, here’s my advice:
Don’t order spareribs.
words and music ©2011, 2016 by Harriet Katz