In the beginning, God created the earth and the sky and the sea
And God reached into the waters
Formed a womb in her hands
And placed it in the heavens
Then with her own life breath
God filled the womb with the spirit of Lilith
First woman.
Lilith gives birth to herself, bursting through the watery womb of God, to be embraced by the sky: "Lilith embraced all of life/Her wings of fire not knowing where sky began and her own self ended." Lilith thinks she has found another like herself when she sees her own reflection on the waters, but when she speaks to it, the image does not answer, and Lilith experiences her first loneliness. God then creates a companion for her:
And God said: It is not good for woman to be alone
I will make her a companion
As Lilith is sky
So man shall be earth
The first woman and the first man meet: she perceives a difference between them, while he-frightened by her fiery wings-falls to the earth, whereupon she names him "Adam, child of Adama" (the earth). She tells him they are meant to be mates but Adam is still frightened, and
Lilith
Needing her companion
Removed her wings of fire
Hurled them to the heavens
Where they became the sun.
Once they begin to know each other, Lilith assumes that Adam will no longer fear her, and she calls to the sun to return her wings of fire. But Adam "still afraid of woman's fire" and angry that he has shown fear, forces Lilith to the ground. Thus the first rape, in which man uses his greater physical strength to crush the spirit of the first woman, produces the version of creation with which we are familiar:
Deep inside her own darkness
Under the fear of man
Lilith forgot her sky birth
And awoke without memories
Eve
Second woman.
God weeps at the transformation of the relationship between man and woman, at woman's subjugation. Death is introduced to provide the passing of generations, so that a future man and woman may retrieve the potential for equality initially intended in their creation.
When Eve eats of the Tree of Knowledge, faint memories stir of her earlier self. But Adam sees only death and insists they leave. God sends two swords of fire to the Garden to remind them of the past. But Adam, once more, is frightened of the fire and flees, taking Eve with him:
And Eve left the garden with her master Mourning a self not quite remembered
The theatre piece concludes with both a claim and a plea for woman's recovery of the fullness of her spirit, symbolized by Lilith's wings of fire:
Lilith
We are your children
We are the changing generations
Help us recover our wings of fire
So we can come together
Woman and man
As intended at Creation.
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