BOOK ONE

And even more than they
I was found to be a transgressor of the holy law.
For their commandment was one,
Concerning one bitter fruit.
But for me, many things are preached,
Concerning the many who kill me.
From which I am commanded to stay away,
So that I do not die the death.
And I, being bound in them,
Am cast into sins, as they say.
I opened my ears to the deceiver,
And to the hearing of the evil serpent.
With my tongue I gave the answer,
Mindlessly, to the deception.
I cast my eyes upon the desirable,
From which the word of command forbade.
My feet rushed in the course,
Leading me near the tree of death.
My hand stretched to the lush tree,
To pluck the fruit that breeds death for me.
My mouth took the taste of the bee alluding to the sweetness of sin that turns bitter,
But in my belly, the bile of bitterness.
From which the poison of the dragon poured forth
And the foul odor of the death-bringer,
It poured the wounds upon the filthy,
My kidneys into the hot disease.