Familial Fables

Our enigmatic origins have been

The subject of many peculiar tales;

Sacred, secular, lofty and obscene

Many involve a villain with bright scales

A purveyor of knowledge forbidden

Of life delicious and of bitter death

Of moral truths and distinctions hidden

Which spell out how we draw and waste our breath

All explain how, as characters, we must

Obey our author and fulfill his plan

But our own writing is seldom discussed

To hide, perhaps, where the story began

When a story declares itself divine

It seeks to hide the truth of its design