GENESIS 4........

by **Harry** Sat Aug 01, 2015 11:06 am

Genesis 4

1 Now Adam lay with his wife Eve
And that's how Eve came to conceive
And gave birth first to Cain, and said
"I have acquired a man from YHWH."
2 Then she gave birth again, as led,
This time his brother Abel, who
Was keeper of the sheep, but Cain
Was tiller of the earth's domain.

Let me give reasons here and now for better
Why Cain's the man to choose, the true go-getter.
He was the first born and no doubt his mother
Thought Abel was the one would kill his brother.
He did not leave apprenticeship that You,
Beloved, appointed for all men to do,
To follow sheep. No, he remained a farmer,
And what is more to place upon his armour,
It seems he was a vegetarian,
A pacifist not to harm any man.
I guess You too were taken in by him.
You spoke to Cain, while You and cherubim
Said not a word of warning to poor Abel.
The prophet is not always the best label.

3 As time went on it came about
When Cain had brought an offering out
To YHWH made of fruit of the ground,
4 That Abel brought one good and sound,
Firstborn of flock, and of their fat.
YHWH had respect for Abel that
Brought his offering, 5 but He had none
For Cain when his offering was done.
So Cain was very angry then
And that's why his face fell again.

You did not give command to sacrifice,
But these two did not think about it twice.
They brought an offering each one of his wares,
And by that gift they thought to climb the stairs
To paradise and stop before its gates
Where cherub with a flaming sword awaits.
Each gift was perfect in its right and each
Conformed to that law Moses came to preach.
You favoured one, the other cast aside,
And so religious strife began the tide
Of bloodshed that still haunts the faded earth.
Each brings a different sacrifice of worth,
And brother kills his brother in Your name,
And follows on the self-indulgent game.

6 So YHWH said to Cain, "Why are you
Angry? And why's your face downcast?
7 "If you do well, then won't you too
Be one accepted? And at last
If you do not well, sin lies at
The door. To you it's passion that
You ought to overcome by trying,
Unless you prefer loss and dying."

My heart is angry when I see the grace
You give to others in this earthly place.
No sacrifice can please You, that I know,
No thing that man can do will ever show
A great advantage here before Your throne.
Each one must stand in judgement there alone
Without a lamb or blood or fruit or bread,
And give account for what he's done and said.
No use to see the other's jealous eye,
Since there's no sacrifice to meet the sky.
The only thing that counts, Beloved, with You,
Is making just and right the things we do.
If not, it's sin that's lying at the door,
And offering is no better than before.

8 Now Cain talked with his brother Abel,
And then it happened, not in fable,
When they were in the field, that Cain
Rose up against his brother. Vain
Were Abel's struggles, he was slain.

Three things are to avoid, first not to talk,
Then not to have a brother, not to walk
Alone in fields, at least not when the other
Has talked a while and claimed to be a brother.
It is the good and great in their own sight,
The ones who know they only have the right
To oil and gold and power because they are
So infinitely worthier by far,
Who come to blows against the one who seems
To block the shortest way to oil pipe dreams.
It is the favoured ones, the one's God's given
The chance to rule and own, the ones who've striven
To better self and theirs who strike down dead.
Beloved, I'm too among the better fed.

9 Then YHWH asked Cain, "Where is your brother
Abel?" He said "I do not know.
Am I my brother's keeper, mother?"
10 And He said "What is this you show?
What have you done? Your brother's blood
Lifts up its voice where like a flood
Upon the ground it calls to Me.
11 "So now you are cursed from the earth,
Which opened up its mouth to be
Receiver of your brother's birth
Blood from your hand as of no worth.
12 "When you shall till the ground, no longer
Shall it yield to you strength or stronger.
A fugitive and vagabond
You shall be on the earth beyond."

Though You speak not to Abel, Abel's blood
Cries out to You, soaked earth like in a flood.
There's only Cain now that You can address,
And so You speak to him to curse and bless.
The blessing is You take away the trade
He had so fondly kept, and keeping made
Himself seem to obey Your brave command
To tend and keep the soil with tender hand.
You strike indeed what he loves best and that
Is blessing sure for future habitat,
And punishment. You always give the choice
Of blessing or of punishment. The voice
Is man's to utter which he will. I take
The blessing, my Beloved, for Abel's sake.

13 Cain said to YHWH, "My punishment
Is more to bear than I had meant!
14 "You surely drive me out today,
Out from the land where I would stay,
I shall be hidden from Your face,
A fugitive in every place,
And vagabond upon the earth,
And there will not be any dearth
Of those to find and kill me there.
Do You really think that is fair?"
15 And YHWH said to him, "Therefore, who
Kills Cain, vengeance of seven is due."
YHWH set a mark on Cain, lest one
Should find and kill him on the run.

Cain fears that he who finds him in the field
Will rise to kill him. Each man's tasks so yield
The fruit of hope and fear as it may be.
What I have done returns oft to haunt me.
Appeal of hope, and after all the slaying,
You still, Beloved, address him no delaying.
You speak to him who killed his brother but
You leave the just and good to wonder what.
Yet Cain is still the slave of his own fear
No matter what You say, what You hold dear.
You mark him out with love, so no one can
Kill him in vengeance for his crime to man.
Mark me too, my Beloved, despite my crime
In thought, in act and word, and last in rhyme.

16 Then Cain went out from YHWH's presence
And lived in Nod, before Pleasure,
The land of Farting, to commence
17 To know his wife in fullest measure,
And she conceived and birthed Enoch.
Cain built a city out of rock
And named after his son Enoch.
18 To Enoch there was born Irad,
Mehujael's the son he had,
The next in line Methushael
Who sired Lamech, a man from hell.

You gave, Beloved, the task to humankind,
Profession and career that he should mind
The earth and till it for its fruit and glory.
But what result is this in Enoch's story?
His father Cain lost the one good profession
That You approve, and so by Your confession
It's not his fault if he goes on to build
A city and to found a mason's guild.
Initiating his son into sin
Was what gave him the head-start then to win.
If we judge things by reputation of
Inventors, then the city's not above
The evil lust and passion of Cain's crime.
As such Manhattan is not worth a dime.

19 Then Lamech took himself two wives:
The name of the first was Adah,
Then Zillah too, the name survives.
20 'Adorned' gave birth to Jabal, ah,
The father-patron of tent-dweller,
And cattle-breeding, an exceller.
21 His brother's name was Jubal, he
Was father-patron of the free
Who play the harp and flute. 22 And as
For 'Her Shadow' she also was
A mother, first to Tubal-Cain,
Father-instructor to the strain
Of craftsman in iron and in bronze.
Tubal-Cain's sister, for by-gones
Was named Naamah, a pleasant soul,
All civilized to reach their goal.

Ah, new professions of an evil breed
Enhance the world of passion, lust and greed!
The tent-maker and livestock breeder are
The children of a murderer, the star
Of crime. While Rome burns Jubal plays a flute
And Caesar's violin is heard to boot.
And metal-work is needed to make locks
And weapons to protect the shipping docks.
Let me go back to Adam's dibble stick
And burn no candle but the inner wick
Of my own rock-hewn, dusky, chambered heart.
To love You, my Belovèd, be my art,
And my craft be to cantillate Your name
Rejecting Cain's brood and their irony fame.

23 Then Lamech piped up to his wives:
"Adah and Zillah, hear my voice,
Wives of Lamech, my speech contrives,
Hear how I've killed a man of choice
For wounding me, and for my hurt,
A young man I could not avert.
24 If Cain shall be avenged for seven
Then seventy-seven is Lamech's heaven."

Who killed a man before appointed prime
And took his name was the first man in time
To take a second wife. Let that be fair
And warning that the origins are there:
Polygamy for vaunted lawfulness
Is brother to the boasting crime and mess
Of violence and murder. Lamech would
Appropriate the mark on Cain that should
Protect him from th’ avenger. Lamech boasts
Ten times the vengeance, in his pride he toasts
His evil deeds as deeds of divine blessing.
Beloved, put on our wounded hands a dressing,
And wake the human soul to know her way
Of violence and lust has gone astray.

25 And Adam knew his wife again,
And she gave birth, man among men,
A son named Seth, for she decreed
"Appointed as another seed
Ælohim has given me instead
Of Abel, killed by Cain, who fled."
26 And as for Seth, to him also
A son was born, a name to know
As Enosh. So they then began
...

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