ICO BYRON’S
Cain. Yes—death, too, is amongst the debts weowe her.
Adah. Cain! that proud spirit, who withdrewthee hence
Hath sadden'd thine still deeper. I had hopedThe promised wonders which thou hast beheld,Visions, thou say’st, of past and present worlds,Would have composed thy mind into the calmOf a contented knowledge ; but I seeThy guide hath done thee evil: siijl I thank him,And can forgive him all, that he so soonHath given thee back to us.
Cain. So soon ?
Adah. T is scarcely
Two hours since ye departed: two long hoursTo me, but only hours upon the sun.
Cain. And yet I have approach’d that sun, andseen
Worlds which he once shone on, and never moreShall light; and worlds he never lit: methoughtYears had roll’d o'er my absence.
Adah. Hardly hours.
Cain. The mind then hath capacity of time,
And measures it by that which it belioldB,r'leasing or painful; little or almighty.
1 had beheld the immemorial worksOf endless beings; skirr’d extinguish'd worlds;
And, gazing on eternity, methoughtI had borrow’d more, by a few drops of agesFrom its immensity; but now I feelMy littleness again, Well said the spirit,
That I was nothing!
Adah. Wherefore said he so ?
Jehovah said not that.
Cain. No: He contents Him
With making us the nothing which we are;
And after battering dust with glimpses ofEden and Immortality, resolvesIt back to dust again—for what ?
Adah. ’ Thou know'p.fc
Even for our parents’ error.
Cain. What is that
To us ? they sinn’d, then let them die !
Adah. Thou hast not spoken well, nor is thatthought
Thy own, but of the spirit who was with thee.Would I could die for them, so they might live!
Cain. Why, so say I—provided that one victimMight satiate the insatiable of life,
Aud that our little rosy sleeper thereMight never taste of death nor human sorrow.
Nor hand it down to those who spring from himAdah. How know wo that some such atonementone day
May not redeem our race ?
Cain. By sacrificing
The harmless for the guilty? what atonementWere there? why, we are innocent: what have weDone, that we must be victims for a deedBefore our birth, or need have victims to .
Atone for this mysterious, nameless sin—
If it be such a sin to seek for knowledge ?
Adah. Alas! thou sinnest now', my Cain: thywords
Sound impious in mine ears.
Cain. Then leave me!
Adah. Never,
Cain. Say, what have we here ?
Adah. Two altars, which our brother Abel madeDuring thine absence, whereupon to offerA sacrifice to God on thy return.
WORKS. . |
Cain. And how knewvte, that I would be so read)'With the burnt offerings, which he daily bringsWith a meek brow, w r hose base humilityShows more of fear than worship, as a bribeTo the Creator? t
Adah. Surely, ’tis well done. ■
Cain. One altar may suffice; / have no offering-Adah. The fruits of tlfe earth, the early, beautifulBlossom and bud, and bloom of flowers and fruits,These are a goodly offering to the Lord,
Given with a gentle and a contrite spirit.
Cain. I have toil’d, and till’d, and sweaten in thesun I
According to the curse:—must I do more ?
For what should I be gentle ? for a war J
With all the elements ere they will yield !
The bread we eat? For what must I be grateful ? ,For being dust, and grovelling in the dust,
Till I return to dust? If I am nothing—
For nothing shall I be an hypocrite, j
And seem well-pleased with pain? For what ishould I
Be contrite ? l’or my father's sin, alreadyExpiate with what we all have undergone,
Ana to be more thaji expiated byThe ages prophesied, upon our seed.
Little deems our young blooming sleeper, there,
The germs of an eternal miseryTo myriads is within him ! better 'twereI snatch’d him in his sleep, and dash'd him ’gainst
The rocks, than let him live to-
Adah. Oh. my God
Touch not the child—my child! thy child ! Oh Caiu!Cain. Fear not! for all the stars, and all thepower
Which sways them, I would not accost yon infantWith ruder greeting than a father's kiss.
Adah. Then, why so awful in thy speech?
Cain. I saiJ j
’Twere better that he ceased to live, than giveLife to so much of sorrow as he mustEndure, and, harder still, bequeath; but sinceThat saying jars you, let us only say—
’Twere better that he never had been born.
Adah. Oh, do not say so! Where were then th fi jjoys,
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 wo are all alike: is’t not so, Caiu ?
Mother, and sire, and son, our features areReflected in each other; as they areIn the clear waters, when they are gentle, andWhen thou art gentle. Love us, then, my Cain! [
And love thyself for our sakes, for we love thee. -iLook! how he laughs and stretches out his aroaS)And opens wide his blue eyes upon thine,
To hail his father; while his little formFlutters as wing’d with joy. Talk not of pain;
The childless cherubs well might envy theeThe pleasures of a parent! Bless him, Cain’.
As yet he hath no words to thank thee, but !
His heart will,, and thine own too. 1
Cain. Bless thee, boy' ^
If that a mortal.blessiug may avail thee,
To save thee from the serpent's curse!
Adah. It shall*
Surely a father’s blessing may avertA reptile’s subtlety.