To drink thy brother's blood from thy rash hand. Henceforth, when thou shalt till the ground, it shall not Yield thee her strength; a fugitive shalt thou

Be from this day, and vagabond on earth!

Adah. This punishment is more than he can bear.
Behold thou drivest him from the face of earth,
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.

Would they could! but who are they
Where are these on the lone earth

Cain.
Shall slay me?
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 father is.
Did not the milk of Eve give nutriment

To him thou now seest so besmeared 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 seal
On Cain, so that he may go forth in safety.
Who slayeth Cain, a sevenfold vengeance shall
Be taken on his head. Come hither!

Angel.

Cain.

It must not be.

480

490

[The ANGEL sets the mark on CAIN'S brow.

It burns 500

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

i. On thy brow--[MS.]

VOL. V.

T

Thou slew'st 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 mourned for Eden.
That which I am, I am; I did not seek
For life, nor did I make myself; but could I

510

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!

Adah.

[The ANGEL disappears. 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! 520
And I who have shed blood cannot shed tears!
But the four rivers1 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 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 dead—
Let us depart together.

Cain.

Oh! thou dead

And everlasting witness! whose unsinking

No,

Blood darkens earth and heaven! what thou now art 530

I know not! but 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.

I, who sprung from the same womb with thee, drained
The same breast, clasped 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

1. [The "four rivers" which flowed round Eden, and consequently the only waters with which Cain was acquainted upon earth.]

For me-compose thy limbs into their grave—

540

The first grave yet dug for mortality.

But who hath dug that grave? Oh, earth! Oh, earth! For all the fruits thou hast rendered 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

Henceforth to dry up tears, and not to shed them;
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.

550

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,
And might have tempered this stern blood of mine,
Uniting with our children Abel's offspring!

O Abel!

Adah. Peace be with him!
Cain.

560

But with me!

[Exeunt.

AND EARTH;

HEAVEN AND

A MYSTERY.

FOUNDED ON THE FOLLOWING PASSAGE IN GENESIS, CHAP. VI. I, 2.

"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 woman wailing for her demon lover."

Coleridge [Kubla Khan, line 16].