To Be Real Poem by RIC BASTASA

to be real as a man
to be more
of the man
in our humanity

one must fall
into sin
and feel
the misery
of our ancestors

one must
experience what falling is
in sin
in guilt
in falling from grace

only then
can you feel what Adam and Eve
felt the first time
only then
can paradise be so
meaningful

only then
can the snake and the apple
be so real

the hardness of its
flesh right
in your own hands
the crispness
of its taste
right in your teeth and tongue

only then
can God be so loud
that you cannot
but hear Him

only then
after the fall
that you can feel the gentleness
of God
whose hands caress
the entangled hairs
in your head

it is in the falling
that grace comes
and mercy and compassion
so real
and so understandable