Cain and Abel

Three Sonnets suggested by Three Designs by G. F. Watts, R.A.

I.

CAIN AND ABEL

Thou, the young world's first dead, unwept shall be

Through storied time, pure spirit, called to rise

With the first flame of thy first sacrifice –

Thy door of life so forced but set thee free;

All pity be reserved, dark Cain, for thee,

Delving the earth and drawing thence thy prize,

Then withering in God's unregarding eyes

To see the fruit of lifeless husbandry.

For straight within thy stubborn heart of man

The beast unsacrificed to God, found place –

And brute unbrotherly instincts overran

Thee wholly, making strange thy human face

Before the angel came to brand, not ban,

But hide thee in a hell of saving grace.