 | Sonnets |  |
83
I.CAIN AND ABEL.
THOU, the young world's first dead, unwept shall be
Through storied time, pure spirit, called to rise
With the first flame of thy first sacrifice—
Thy door of life so forced but set thee free;
All pity be reserved, dark Cain, for thee,
Who from the delvëd earth drew forth a prize,
Then withering in God's unregarding eyes,
Watched the first fruit of lifeless husbandry.
Through storied time, pure spirit, called to rise
With the first flame of thy first sacrifice—
Thy door of life so forced but set thee free;
All pity be reserved, dark Cain, for thee,
Who from the delvëd earth drew forth a prize,
Then withering in God's unregarding eyes,
Watched the first fruit of lifeless husbandry.
For straight within thy stubborn heart of man
The beast unsacrificed to God, found place,
And brute, unbrotherly instincts overran
Thee wholly, making strange thy human face
Before the angel came to brand, not ban,
But hide thee in a hell of saving grace.
The beast unsacrificed to God, found place,
And brute, unbrotherly instincts overran
Thee wholly, making strange thy human face
Before the angel came to brand, not ban,
But hide thee in a hell of saving grace.
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