The Works of Lord Byron Volume V Part 56

_Eve_. G.o.d! who didst name the day, and separate Morning from night, till then divided never-- Who didst divide the wave from wave, and call Part of thy work the firmament--All Hail!

_Abel_. G.o.d! who didst call the elements into Earth, ocean, air and fire--and with the day 10 And night, and worlds which these illuminate, Or shadow, madest beings to enjoy them, And love both them and thee--All Hail! All Hail!

_Adah_. G.o.d! the Eternal parent of all things!

Who didst create these best and beauteous beings, To be beloved, more than all, save thee-- Let me love thee and them:--All Hail! All Hail!

_Zillah_. Oh, G.o.d! who loving, making, blessing all, Yet didst permit the Serpent to creep in, And drive my father forth from Paradise, 20 Keep us from further evil:--Hail! All Hail!

_Adam_. Son Cain! my first-born--wherefore art thou silent?

_Cain_. Why should I speak?

_Adam_. To pray.

_Cain_. Have ye not prayed?

_Adam_. We have, most fervently.

_Cain_. And loudly: I Have heard you.

_Adam_. So will G.o.d, I trust.

_Abel_. Amen!

_Adam_. But thou my eldest born? art silent still?

_Cain_. 'Tis better I should be so.

_Adam_. Wherefore so?

_Cain_. I have nought to ask.

_Adam_. Nor aught to thank for?

_Cain_. No.

_Adam_. Dost thou not _live_?

_Cain_. Must I not die?

_Eve_. Alas!

The fruit of our forbidden tree begins 30 To fall.

_Adam_. And we must gather it again.

Oh G.o.d! why didst thou plant the tree of knowledge?

_Cain_. And wherefore plucked ye not the tree of life?

Ye might have then defied him.

_Adam_. Oh! my son, Blaspheme not: these are Serpent's words.

_Cain_. Why not?

The snake spoke _truth_; it _was_ the Tree of Knowledge; It _was_ the Tree of Life: knowledge is good, And Life is good; and how can both be evil?

_Eve_. My boy! thou speakest as I spoke in sin, Before thy birth: let me not see renewed 40 My misery in thine. I have repented.

Let me not see my offspring fall into The snares beyond the walls of Paradise, Which even in Paradise destroyed his parents.

Content thee with what _is_. Had we been so, Thou now hadst been contented.--Oh, my son!

_Adam_. Our orisons completed, let us hence, Each to his task of toil--not heavy, though Needful: the earth is young, and yields us kindly Her fruits with little labour.

_Eve_. Cain--my son-- 50 Behold thy father cheerful and resigned-- And do as he doth. [_Exeunt_ ADAM _and_ EVE.

_Zillah_. Wilt thou not, my brother?

_Abel_. Why wilt thou wear this gloom upon thy brow, Which can avail thee nothing, save to rouse The Eternal anger?

_Adah_. My beloved Cain Wilt thou frown even on me?

_Cain_. No, Adah! no; I fain would be alone a little while.

Abel, I'm sick at heart; but it will pa.s.s; Precede me, brother--I will follow shortly.

And you, too, sisters, tarry not behind; 60 Your gentleness must not be harshly met: I'll follow you anon.

_Adah_. If not, I will Return to seek you here.

_Abel_. The peace of G.o.d Be on your spirit, brother!

[_Exeunt_ ABEL, ZILLAH, _and_ ADAH.

_Cain_ (_solus_). And this is Life?--Toil! and wherefore should I toil?--because My father could not keep his place in Eden?

What had _I_ done in this?--I was unborn: I sought not to be born; nor love the state To which that birth has brought me. Why did he Yield to the Serpent and the woman? or 70 Yielding--why suffer? What was there in this?

The tree was planted, and why not for him?

If not, why place him near it, where it grew The fairest in the centre? They have but One answer to all questions, "'Twas _his_ will, And _he_ is good." How know I that? Because He is all-powerful, must all-good, too, follow?

I judge but by the fruits--and they are bitter-- Which I must feed on for a fault not mine.

Whom have we here?--A shape like to the angels 80 Yet of a sterner and a sadder aspect Of spiritual essence: why do I quake?

Why should I fear him more than other spirits, Whom I see daily wave their fiery swords Before the gates round which I linger oft, In Twilight's hour, to catch a glimpse of those Gardens which are my just inheritance, Ere the night closes o'er the inhibited walls And the immortal trees which overtop The Cherubim-defended battlements? 90 If I shrink not from these, the fire-armed angels, Why should I quail from him who now approaches?

Yet--he seems mightier far than them, nor less Beauteous, and yet not all as beautiful As he hath been, and might be: sorrow seems Half of his immortality.[97] And is it So? and can aught grieve save Humanity?

He cometh.

_Enter_ LUCIFER.

_Lucifer_. Mortal!

_Cain_. Spirit, who art thou?

_Lucifer_. Master of spirits.

_Cain_. And being so, canst thou Leave them, and walk with dust?

_Lucifer_. I know the thoughts 100 Of dust, and feel for it, and with you.