The Poetical Works of Lord Byron

Abel. O God! receive Thy servant, and
Forgive his slayer, for he knew not what
He did-Cain, give me-give me thy hand;
Poor Zillah-

and

[tell
Cain [after a moment's stupefaction]. My
hand! 'tis all red, and with-
What? [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?
'Tis not the hour of slumber :-why so pale?
What, hast thou !-thou wert full of life this
morn!

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 :-'twas a blow, -
And but a blow. Stir-stir-nay, only stir!
Why, so that's well !-thou breath'st! breathe
upon me!

O God! O God!

[God? Abel [very faintly]. What's he who speaks of Cain. Thy murderer.

Abel. Then may God forgive him! Cain, Comfort poor Zillah: she has but one brother Now. [ABEL dies. Cain. And I none !-Who makes me brotherless?

His eyes are open! then he is not dead!

Death is like sleep; and sleep shuts down our lids.

moves not;

Abel! what's this?-who hath done this? He
[mine
He breathes not ; and his hands drop down from
With stony lifelessness! Ah! cruel Cain !
Why cam'st 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!

[Exit ZILLAH, calling on her parents, etc. 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. Adam. A voice of woe from Zillah brings me here.

What do I see?-'Tis true !-My son !-my son!
Woman, behold the serpent's work, and thine!

[To EVE.

Eve. 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!
Adam.

Who
Or what hath done this deed?-Speak, Cain,

since thou

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!-Wert present; was it some more hostile angel,
This is a vision, else I am become
[no! Who walks not with Jehovah? or some wild
Brute of the forest?

The native of another and worse world. [wet;
The earth swims round me what is this?-'tis
[Puts his hand to his brow, and then looks at it.
And yet there are no dews! 'Tis blood-my
blood-

Eve.

Ah! a livid light

Breaks through, as from a thunder-cloud! Yon

brand

Massy and bloody, snatch'd from oft the altar,
And black with smoke, and red with---
Adam.

Speak, my son !
Speak, and assure us, wretched as we are,
That we are not more miserable still.
Adah. Speak, Cain! and say it was not thou!
Eve.
It was.

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 cannot 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-I
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!

see it now- he hangs his guilty head, And covers his ferocious eyes with hands Incarnadine.

Adah. Mother, thou dost him wrongCain clear thee from this horrible accusal, Which grief wrings from our parent.

Eve.

Hear, Jehovah ! And those lips once so warm-my heart! my

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--
Adah.

Hold!

Curse him not, mother, for he is thy son-
Curse him not, mother, for he is my brother,
And my betroth'd.
Eve.

heart!

So shall our children be. I will bear Enoch,
And you his sister. Ere the sun declines
Let us depart, nor walk the wilderness

He hath left thee no brother-Under the cloud of night.-Nay, speak to me,

Zillah no husband-me no son !-for thus
I curse him from my sight for evermore !
All bonds I break between us, as he broke
That of his nature, in yon- -O death! death!
Why didst thou not take me, who first incurr'd
Why dost thou not so now?
[thee?
Adam.
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.

Eve pointing to CAIN). 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 me-thine own.

Cain.
Adah.

Leave me!

Why, all have left thee.

Cain. And wherefore lingerest thou? Dust
thou not fear

To dwell with one who hath done this?
Adah.

I fer

Nothing except to leave thee, much as I less.
Shrink from the deed which leaves thee brother-
I must not speak of this-it is between thee
And the great God.

A Voice from within exclaims, Cain! Cain!
Adah.
Hear'st thou that voice?
The Voice within. Cain! Cain !
Adah.

It soundeth like an angel's tone
Enter the ANGEL of the LORD.
Angel. Where is thy brother Abel?
Cain.

Am I then
Cain! what hast thou done?

My brother's keeper?
Angel.

By day and night-snakes spring up in his path-The voice of thy slain brother's blood cries out,
Earth's fruits be ashes in his mouth-the leaves Even from the ground, unto the Lord-Now at
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!
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!
May he live in the pangs which others die with!
And death itself wax something worse than death
To him who first acquainted him with man!
Hence, fratricide! henceforth that word is Cain,
Through all the coming myriads of mankind,
Who shall abhor thee, though thou wert their
sire!

May the grass wither from thy feet! the woods
Deny thee shelter! earth a home! the dust
A grave! the sun his light! and heaven her
God!
[Exit EVE.
Adam. Cain! get thee forth: we dwell no
more together.

Depart! and leave the dead to me--I am
Henceforth alone-we never must meet more.
Adah. Oh, part not with him thus, my father:
do not

Add thy deep curse to Eve's upon his head!
Adam. I curse him not: his spirit be his curse.
Come, Zillah!

Zillah. I must watch my husband's corse.
Adam. We will return again, when he is gone
Who hath provided for us this dread office.
Come, Zillah!
Zillah.

Yet one kiss on yon pale clay,

thou

[mouth
Cursed from the earth, which open'd late
To drink thy brother's blood from thy rast Cari
Henceforth, when thou shalt till the ground i
shall not

Yield thee her strength: a fugitive shalt tho
Be from this day, and vagabond on earth! ber

Adah. This punishment is more than be put
Behold, thou driv'st him from the face of eart
And from the face of God shall he be hid
A fugitive and vagabond on earth.
"Twill come to pass, that whoso findeth him
Shall slay him.

Cain. Would they could! but who are the
Shall slay me? Where are these on the
As yet unpeopled?

Angel.
Thou hast slain thy brother
And who shall warrant thee against thy son?
Adah. Angel of Light! be merciful, nor say
That this poor aching breast now nourishes
A murderer in my boy, and of his father.

Angel. Then he would but be what his fath
Did not the milk of Eve give nutriment
To him thou now seest so besmear'd with Blood
The fratricide might well engender parricides —
But it shall not be so-the Lord thy God
And mine commandeth me to set His sell
On Cain, so that he may go forth in sve v
Who slayeth Cain, a sevenfold vengear
Be taken on his head. Come hither!

Cain.
Wouldst thou with me?

Angel. To mark upon thy brow Exemption from such deeds as thou hast done. Cain. No, let me die! Angel.

It must not be.

The ANGEL sets the mark on CAIN'S brow.
Cain.
It burns
My brow, but nought to that which is within it.
Is there more? let me meet it as I may.
Angel. Stern hast thou been and stubborn
from the womb,

As the ground thou must henceforth till; but he
Thou slewest was gentle as the flocks he tended.
Cain. 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.

Angel. Who shall heal murder? what is done is done :

Go forth fulfil thy days! and be thy deeds
Unlike the last! [The ANGEL disappears.
Adah.
He's gone, let us go forth;
I hear our little Enoch cry within
Our bower.

Cain. 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? Adah. If I thought that he would not, I would

Cain (interrupting her].

No,

No more of threats: we have had too many of them :

Go to our children; I will follow thee.
Adah. I will not leave thee lonely with the
Let us depart together.

[dead;

Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel, and Euphrates.-GEN. ii. 11-14. Ire four rivers' which flowed round Eden, and conseently the only waters with which Cain was acquainted upon

I know not; out if thou seest what I am,
I think thou wilt forgive him whom his God
Can ne'er forgive, nor his own soul.-Farewell!
I must not, dare not touch what I have made
thee.
[drain'd
I, who sprang from the same womb with thee,
The same breast, clasp'd thee often to my own,
In fondness brotherly and boyish, I
Can never meet thee more, nor even dare
To do that for thee which thou shouldst have
done

For me-compose thy limbs into their grave-
The first grave yet dug for mortality. [earth!
But who hath dug that grave? Oh, earth! Oh,
For all the fruits thou hast render'd to me, I
Give thee back this.-Now for the wilderness!
[ADAH stoops down and kisses the body of ABEL.
Adah. A dreary and an early doom, my
brother,

Has been thy lot! Of all who mourn for thee,
I alone must not weep. My office is [them;
Henceforth to dry up tears, and not to shed
But yet, of all who mourn, none mourn like me,
Not only for thyself, but him who slew thee.
Now, Cain! I will divide thy burden with thee.
Cain. Eastward from Eden will we take our
way:

'Tis the most desolate, and suits my steps. Adah. Lead! thou shalt be my guide, and may our God

Be thine! Now let us carry forth our children.
Cain. And he who lieth there was childless. I
Have dried the fountain of a gentle race,
Which might have graced his recent marriage
couch,
[mine,
And might have temper'd this stern blood of
Uniting with our children Abel's offspring!
O Abel!

Adah. Peace be with him!
Cain.

But with me![Exeunt.

HEAVEN AND EARTH:

A MYSTERY.

1821.

FOUNDED ON THE FOLLOWING PASSAGE IN GENESIS, CHAP. VI.: 'AND IT CAME TO PASS. THAT THE SONS OF GOD SAW THE DAUGHTERS OF MEN THAT THEY WERE FAIR; AND THEY TOOK THEM WIVES OF ALL WHICH THEY CHOSE."

And when I think that his immortal wings
Will one day hover o'er the sepulchre
Of the poor child of clay which so adored br
As he adores the Highest, death becomes
Less terrible; but yet I pity him:
His grief will be of ages, or at least
Mine would be such for him, were I the sera
And he the perishable.
Rather say,

Aho.
That he will single forth some other daughter
Of earth, and love her as he once loved Andh

Anah. And if it should be so, and she Lord him,

Better thus than that he should weep for me. Aho. If I thought thus of Samiasa's love, All seraph as he is, I'd spurn him from me. But to our invocation !-Tis the hour. Anah.

Seraph!

From thy sphere ! Whatever star contain thy glory; In the eternal depths of heaven Albeit thou watchest with the sever Though through space infinite and boary Before thy bright wings worlds be de Yet hear!

Oh! think of her who holds thee dear
And though she nothing is to thee,
Yet think that thou art all to her.

Thou canst not tell,-and never be
Such pangs decreed to aught save

• The archangels, said to be seven in number, and a cupy the eighth rank in the celestial hierarchy.

An Eden kept afar from sight,

The hour is near

[blent.

Which tells me we are not abandon'd

I feel my immortality o'ersweep

All pains, all tears, all time, all fears, and peal,
Like the eternal thunders of the deep,

Into my ears this truth-' Thou liv'st for ever!'
But if it be in joy

I know not, nor would know;

That secret rests with the Almighty giver,

Who folds in clouds the fonts of bliss and woe.
But thee and me he never can destroy;
Change us he may, but not o'erwhelm ; we are
Of as eternal essence, and must war
With him if he will war with us: with thee

I can share all things, even immortal sorrow;
For thou hast ventured to share life with me,
And shall I shrink from thine eternity?

No! though the serpent's sting should pierce
me thorough,

And thou thyself wert like the serpent, coil
Around me still! and I will smile,

And curse thee not; but hold

Thee in as warm a fold

For an immortal. If the skies contain
More joy than thou canst give and take, remain!
Anah. Sister! sister! I view them winging

Ling,

Though sometimes with our visions Their bright way through the parted night.
[quite.- Aho. The clouds from off their pinions fling-
As though they bore to-morrow's light.
Anah. But if our father see the sight!
Aho. He would but deem it was the moon
Rising unto some sorcerer's tune

Appear! Appear!
Seraph!

My own Azaziel! be but here,

And leave the stars to their own light.

Ako.

Samiasa!
Wheresoe'er

[dare

Thou rulest in the upper air-
Or warring with the spirits who may
Dispute with him

Who made all empires, empire; or recalling Some wandering star, which shoots through the abyss,

[ing.

Whose tenants dying, while their world is fall-
Stare the dim destiny of clay in this;
Or joining with the inferior cherubim,
Thou deignest to partake their hymn-

Samiasa!

I all thee, I await thee, and I love thee.
Many may worship thee, that will I not:
If that thy spirit down to mine may move thee,
Descend and share my lot!
Though I be form'd of clay,
And thou of beams

More bright than those of day
On Eden's streams,
Thine immortality cannot repay
With love more warm than mine
My love. There is a ray

In me, which, though forbidden yet to shine,
I feel was lighted at thy God's and thine.
i' may be hidden long: death and decay
Our mother Eve bequeath'd us-but my heart
Defies it: though this life must pass away,
Is that a cause for thee and me to part?
Thou art immortal-so am I : I feel-

Anah. Lo! they have kindled all the west,
Like a returning sunset ;-lo!

On Ararat's late secret crest
A mild and many-colour'd bow,
The remnant of their flashing path,
Now shines and now, behold! it hath
Return'd to night, as rippling foam,

Which the leviathan hath lash'd
From his unfathomable home,

When sporting on the face of the calm deep,
Subsides soon after he again hath dash'd'
Down, down, to where the ocean's fountains
sleep.

Aho. They have touch'd earth! Samiasa!
Anah.

My Azaziel!

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The Poetical Works of Lord Byron: Reprinted from the Original Editions, with ...