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252 lilith whispers Bonnie Lyons Don’t turn around. Even though I’m clothed in dark disguise you do not dare look me in the face even in your sleep. I’m Lilith, the original woman, the one you call the first witch. Let men scare you and control you by telling you I kill babies and you, docile daughters of Eve— believe them. I’m not mentioned in their magic book, but you can find me in the traces of the true version they forgot to erase. I am the woman God created when God created humans—female and male in God’s image. Made of the earth like Adam and at the same moment; from the beginning I refused to let him rule. Adam named the animals the real self 253 and plants but I loved them. Adam divorced himself with his words; I embraced them with my body. So in the second version Eve was created out of Adam’s rib, second sex, second forever. And look at the punishment for curiosity and independence. Don’t you see? You are ruled through your desire. But my boundless ecstatic desire to mate with the world itself is the source of my power. My existence between the lines is necessary. This alone explains those scorched bodies of free women. How else explain men’s dreadful fear of you? Wake up now, and forget. In Genesis 1:26–28, there are two versions of the creation of the first woman. According to Jewish legend, the first woman, who was created at the same time as Adam and out of the same earth, is Lilith. Reprinted from In Other Words (Pecan Grove Press, 2004). ...

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