Old Testament Lore. Norman M. Chansky

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СКАЧАТЬ slumped to the ground- bloodied, lifeless, null.

      Eve’s eyes filled up with tears, bitterly she cried.

      He who swam inside her womb lay lifeless by her side.

      Her fingers touched the bleeding wound, then caressed the breasts that fed

      The innocent shepherd, Abel, now prostrate before her dead.

      Cain reached out to touch her hand but, heartsick, she turned away in pain

      And staggered to be free of him who had his brother slain.

      Cain raised the rigid corpse onto his sweating back.

      And blood droplets dripped from the skull that sustained the crack.

      He walked in sun, he walked in rain; no shelter did he find

      A heavy heap of Abel lay on his shoulder and on his mind.

      Cain wandered east of Eden, his sorrowing shoulders sagged

      With his rigid brother Abel, a burden to be dragged.

      Cain shrieked, “Forgive me “every night in terror-dreams.

      But Abel made no sound at all ‘though Cain heard explosive screams.

      Weary worn at dawn he’d ‘wake and traveled by the light,

      And fought off attacking vultures until dusk met the waiting night.

      The stench of Abel filled the air, no longer could Cain a morsel eat.

      He felt his strength was ebbing and a swelling in his feet.

      His back was bent and drooping low when his feet toyed with the sea

      And as he stepped into a wave Abel slipped off quietly.

      Cain was not aware that Abel had dropped into the deep,

      His shoulders sensing a heavy load causing him to creep.

      He crawled along the edge of Time although the light was dim

      And saw his mother Eve and toward her began to swim.

      “Mama, mama, comfort me ! “I’m dying for what I’ve done.”

      Cain pleaded with Eve losing another son.

      But Eve trembled and turned away, her body in a chill.

      There was no mercy for a son who would his brother kill.

      Cain’s keening filled her ears and ever lingered there;

      On her face were bitter tears; in her soul was deep despair.

      For one full year did she mourn;

      Then a third son to her was born.

      Torrents of joy purged her grief

      That had stolen her bliss like a thief.

      The Beginning of Evil

      When families on earth became more abundant, divine creatures noticed the beauty of the daughters and married them. Gen. VI, 1

      When the sons of the heavenly creatures

      Looked upon the daughters of mortals

      Their hearts pounded with delight

      And their knees melted from passion.

      They took these daughters as their wives

      And from their offspring proceeded evil

      But also Forces of good from the Mind of God

      Which was the template of mortals.

      And forever would evil and good contend.

      Fruit of the Womb

      From the seeds of passion’s flow’r buds of joy unfold and smile at the world about.

      The fruit of the womb ripens exuding beauty unparalleled in the past.

      Eve Muses at Adam’s Decline

      Eve bent over Adam and lovingly drew his eyelids closed, her own eyes wet with grief.

      She drifted into nostalgia. How many tides, she mused,

      Has the moon pulled in its journey through our lives.

      How many sunrises have there been to bring on the day;

      How many sunsets brought on the night. Time deserts us.

      Brushing wisps of his sparse silver hair, she spoke to Adam, his face blue with death,

      These past few months have been especially hard for you,

      Your manhood was stolen; your incontinence, embarrassing; your nausea, constant.

      The little you ate came back. Remember how tenderly I washed your face

      And changed your clothes? Your cough still echoes in my ears.

      I hear each rasp. Then fright returns to me.

      Staring at me blankly, you seemed to be asking, “Who am I ? Where am I?

      How did I get this way? What will happen next?”

      The man I admired has shriveled. Your mind was confused,

      Filled with forgetting yet recalling what never happened.

      You blamed God for Entrapping us to sin in the garden.

      You thought that Seth murdered Abel

      And that it was he who wandered East of Eden.

      When he came to visit, you called him Cain.

      We both knew that meaning had drifted out of your life.

      You were languishing in a river of forgetfulness and drowning in a sea of anguish.

      I wish I had eaten from the Tree of Life instead of from the Tree of Knowledge.

      Maybe you would still be with me. But once done an act cannot be annulled!

      Can anyone reverse History?

      To cheer you, I told you stories about your kindness, your virility, your passion.

      You smiled an empty smile.

      How roused you were to pity when a frail horse had fallen along the wayside.

      How your hands lovingly СКАЧАТЬ