Oh, do not say so! Where were then the joys,
The mother's joys of watching, nourishing,
And loving him? Soft! he awakes. Sweet Enoch!
[She goes to the child.
Oh Cain! look on him; see how full of life,
Of strength, of bloom, of beauty, and of joy,
How like to me-how like to thee, when gentle,
For then we are all alike; is 't not so, Cain?
Mother, and sire, and son, our features are
Reflected in each other; as they are
In the clear waters, when they are gentle, and
When thou art gentle. Love us, then, my Cain!
And love thyself for our sakes, for we love thee.
Look! how he laughs and stretches out his arms,
And opens wide his blue eyes upon thine,
To hail his father; while his little form
Flutters as wing'd with joy. Talk not of pain!
The childless cherubs well might envy thee
The pleasures of a parent! Bless him, Cain!
As yet he hath no words to thank thee, but
His heart will, and thine own too.
Suns, moons, and earths, upon their loud-voiced spheres A shepherd's humble offering. Singing in thunder round me, as have made me
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Who made us, and who breathed the breath of life
Within our nostrils, who hath blessed us,
And spared, despite our father's sin, to make
His children all lost, as they might have been,
Had not thy justice been so temper'd with
The mercy which is thy delight, as to
Accord a pardon like a paradise,
Compared with our great crimes:-Sole Lord of light!
Of good, and glory, and eternity;
Without whom all were evil, and with whom
Nothing can err, except to some good end
Of thine omnipotent benevolence-
Inscrutable, but still to be fulfill'd-
Accept from out thy humble first of shepherd's
First of the first-born flocks-an offering,
In itself nothing-as what offering can be
Aught unto thee?—but yet accept it for
The thanksgiving of him who spreads it in
The face of thy high heaven, bowing his own
Even to the dust, of which he is, in honour
Of thee, and of thy name, for evermore!
CAIN (standing erect during this speech).
Spirit! whate'er or whosoe'er thou art,
Omnipotent, it may be-and, if good,
Shown in the exemption of thy deeds from evil:
Jehovah upon
earth! and God in heaven!
And, it may be, with other names, because
Thine attributes seem many, as thy works:
If thou must be propitiated with prayers,
Take them! If thou must be induced with altars,
And soften'd with a sacrifice, receive them!
Two beings here erect them unto thee.
If thou lovest blood, the shepherd's shrine, which smokes
On my right hand, hath shed it for thy service,
In the first of his flock, whose limbs now reek
In sanguinary incense to thy skies;
Or if the sweet and blooming fruits of earth,
And milder seasons, which the unstain'd turf
I spread them on now offers in the face
Of the broad sun which ripen'd them, may seem
Good to thee, inasmuch as they have not
Suffer'd in limb or life, and rather form
A sample of thy works, than supplication
To look on ours! If a shrine without a victim,
And altar without gore, may win thy favour,
Look on it! and for him who dresseth it,
He is-such as thou madest him; and seeks nothing
Which must be won by kneeling: if he 's evil,
Strike him! thou art omnipotent, and mayst,—
How heaven licks up the flames, when thick with blood! Poor Zillah-
CAIN (after a moment's stupefaction).
My hand! 't is all red, and with—
[A long pause.-Looking slowly round. Where am I? alone! Where 's Abel? where Cain? Can it be that I am he? My brother, Awake!-why liest thou so on the green earth? "T is not the hour of slumber:-why so pale? What hast thou?--thou wert full of life this moru! Abel! I pray thee, mock me not! I smote Too fiercely, but not fatally. Ah, why Wouldst thou oppose me? This is mockery; And only done to daunt me :-'t was a blowAnd but a blow. Stir-stir-nay, only stir! Why, so that's well-thou breath'st! breathe upon
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Who makes me brotherless?
then he is not dead!
Death is like sleep; and sleep shuts down our lids.
His lips, too, are apart; why then he breathes!
And yet I feel it not.-His heart!-his heart!-
Let me see, doth it beat?-methinks--No!-no!
This is a vision, else I am become
The native of another and worse world.
The earth swims round me:-what is this?'t is wet;
[Puts his hand to his brow, and then looks at it.
And yet there are no dews! T is blood-my blood-
My brother's and my own; and shed by me!
Then what have I further to do with life,
Since I have taken life from my own flesh?
But he can not be dead!-Is silence death?
No; he will wake; then let me watch by him.
Life cannot be so slight, as to be quench'd
Thus quickly!-he hath spoken to me since-
What shall I say to him?-My brother!-No;
He will not answer to that name; for brethren
Smite not each other. Yet-yet-speak to me.
Oh! for a word more of that gentle voice,
That I may bear to hear my own again!
I heard a heavy sound: what can it be?
'Tis Cain; and watching by my husband. What
Dost thou there, brother? Doth he sleep? Oh! heaven!
What means this paleness, and yon stream?-No! no!
It is not blood; for who would shed his blood?
Abel! what's this?-who hath done this? He moves
not;
He breathes not: and his hands drop down from mine
With stony lifelessness! Ah! cruel Cain!
Why camest thou not in time to save him from
This violence? Whatever hath assail'd him,
Thou wert the stronger, and shouldst have stepp'd in
Between him and aggression! Father-Eve!-
Adah!-come hither! Death is in the world!
I see it now-he hangs his guilty head,
And covers his ferocious eye with hands
Incarnadine.
Mother, thou dost him wrong-
Cain! clear thee from this horrible accusal,
Which grief wrings from our parent.
May the eternal serpent's curse be on him!
For he was fitter for his seed than ours.
May all his days be desolate! May—-
Curse him not, mother, for he is thy son-
Curse him not, mother, for he is my brother,
And my betroth'd.
He hath left thee no brother-
Zillah no husband-me no son!--for this
I curse him from my sight for evermore!
All bonds I break between us, as he broke
That of his nature, in yon-Oh death! death!
Why didst thou not take me, who first incurr'd thee?
[Exit ZILLAH, calling on her parents, etc. Why dost thou not so now?
CAIN (Solus).
And who hath brought him there?-I-who abhor
The name of death so deeply, that the thought
Empoison'd all my life, before I knew
His aspect-I have led him here, and given
My brother to his cold and still embrace,
As if he would not have asserted his
Inexorable claim without my aid.
I am awake at last-a dreary dream
Had madden'd me :-but he shall ne'er awake!
Enter ADAM, EVE, ADAH, and ZILLAH.
Eve! let not this,
Thy natural grief, lead to impiety!
A heavy doom was long forespoken to us;
And now that it begins, let it be borne
In such sort as may show our God, that we
Are faithful servants to his holy will.
His will! the will of yon incarnate spirit
Of death, whom I have brought upon the earth
To strew it with the dead. May all the curses
Of life be on him! and his agonies
Drive him forth o'er the wilderness, like us,
From Eden, till his children do by him
As he did by his brother! May the swords
And wings of fiery cherubim pursue him
[To EvE. By day and night-snakes spring up in his path-
Earth's fruits be ashes in his mouth-the leaves
On which he lays his head to sleep be strew'd
With scorpions! May his dreams be of his victim!
His waking a continual dread of death!
A voice of woe from Zillah brings me here.-
What do I see?-T is true!-My son!--my son !
Woman, behold the serpent's work, and thine!
Oh! speak not of it now: the serpent's fangs
Are in my heart. My best beloved, Abel!
Jehovah! this is punishment beyond
A mother's sin, to take him from me!
May the clear rivers turn to blood, as he
Stoops down to stain them with his raging lip!
May every element shun or change to him!
Or what hath done this deed?-Speak, Cain, since thou May he live in the pangs which others die with!
Wert present: was it some more hostile angel,
Shrink from the deed which leaves thee brotherless.
I must not speak of this-it is between thee
And the great God.
A Voice from within exclaims,
[The ANGEL sets the mark on CAIN's brow.
My brow, but nought to that which is within it.
Is there more? let me meet it as I may.
ANGEL
Hear'st thou that voice? Stern hast thou been and stubborn from the womb,
As the ground thou must henceforth will; but he
Thou slew'st was gentle as the flocks he tended.
After the fall too soon was I begotten;
Ere yet my mother's mind subsided from
The serpent, and my sire still mourn'd for Eden.
That which I am, I am; I did not seek
For life, nor did I make myself; but could I
With
my own death redeem him from the dust-
And why not so? let him return to day,
And I lie ghastly! so shall be restored
By God the life to him he loved; and taken
From me a being I ne'er loved to bear.
Who shall heal murder? what is done is done.
Go forth fulfil thy days! and be thy deeds
Unlike the last!
[The ANGEL disappears.
He's gone, let us go forth;
I hear our little Enoch cry within
Our bower.
Ah! little knows he what he weeps for!
And I who have shed blood cannot shed tears!
But the four rivers would not cleanse my soul.
Think'st thou my boy will bear to look on me?
If I thought that he would not, I would
The four rivers which flowed round Eden, and consequently the only waters with which Cain was acquainted upon the earth.
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