Fragments Of The Mystery Of The Fall 1 Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A B CDEFGHIJK L MCNOPQCNRSTUNV L WXTYZA2B2LB2NC2D2PE2 E2F2G2H2ZI2 J2BK2L2M2N2O2ZN2 K2ZZP2ZZQ2PR2K2S2C2T 2U2V2B2W2X2AZZY2AZ2Z ZHH2 Z A3 NZZZ B3P2ZZZZ ZQ2F2ABC3ZD3F2P2A E3F3F3ZG3H3P2B2DNI3J 3P2 AK3K L3ZZL3B2L3L3M3AL3N3 A F3 ZZP2B2ZF3F3ZF3ZP2AP2 U2L3ZL3L3F3O3L3P3ZL3 B2F3L3F3L3ZZP2P2F3P2 F3ZAP2ZAL3F3ZC3P2P2Z ZL3F3Q3BZF3N3ZL3JZR3 ZL3ZL3ZF3P2L3ZAF3F3F 3ZZAL3ZF3S3ZZL3ZF3L3 B AL3 B ZF3ZT3 U3ZP2L3B P2V3F3 ZZL3G3L3L3L3V3 L3Z ZZL3K3P3F3 ZM3L3L3L3L3ZF3M3Z BZL3Q3ZZW3L3L3W3X3L3 L3Y3KZZZ3A4H2K3B4W3L 3L3ZQ2F3ZL3ZBZL3H2UF 3L3L3L3ZF3Y3ZZZP2JY3 L3ZB2L2L3U3 U3 U3 F3ZC4P2P2H2P2Z ZF3F3F3F3F3F3F3C3F3Z F3D4IZ ZH2E3Z C3F3 N3Z ZZF3L3AH2Z M3Z F3L3Z ZB2U3Z3 Q2ZL3Z L3ZZD4ZP2L3ZZZD4 ZE4 ZL3L3Z L3ZZG3Q3B2ZL3P2ZW3W3 L3L3P2ZG3 Z ZF3ZF4F3 F3Z P2L3L3L3ZL3ZW3L3L3 B2 P2 D4D4F3L2Q2F3D4Z A F3 U3F3ZF3ZF3B2L3L3Q3B2 G4B2H4V3ZN3ZZZL3B2ZZ AN3L3ZZC4D4F3ZB2H2I4 F3ZJ4L3L3U3F3L3L3F3P 2Z U3 F3 B2P2ZZW3W3L3L3H2P3K4 B2ZF3ZZZZZU3N3P2U3F3 U3 U3 ZL3ZL2L3D4B2F3 ZP2 F3 B2 P2 ZU3F3X2L4F3B2P2M4B2F 3F3T3ZF3ZB2F3I4ZN3N4 B2B2P2ZB2ZO4AH2B2ZF3 AN4B2ZB2I4ZZP2B2ZB2M 3H4N3ZF3B2 B2 F3 F3ZF3U3F3P4ZZZB2F3F3 B2 U3 B2B2 B2ZF3Z W3F3 B2P2W3ZZ F3ZP4B2F3B2U3Q4B2ZZP 2ZB2F3ZH2 F3F3D4D4ZZZW3F3ZZB2R 4F3B2 H2ZB2ZZB2F3ZP2B2H2 B2 F3 ZP2 B2E2ZB2E2P2E2O3Z N3Z H4X2U3Z ZB2B2ZZW3P2 F3N3 B2 F3 Z ZF3ZZF3 B2B2ZZU3F3D4B2B2V3ZF 3ZF3F3U3B2ZZB2B2 P2F3 ZF3P2S3ZZZB2B2F3I4F3 B2P2ZH3F3ZP2ZB2ZIP2Z F3B2F3B2U3P2Q2F3F3E2 F3B2ZB2P2F3ZB2ZN3P2B 2P2U3D3B2B2B2B2M3B2Z ZZN3B2F3U3ZP2F3F3 U3 F3 ZF3ZO3U3ZZF3F3U3B2 Z ZS3F3B2B2F3ZB2B2B2B2 S4B2F3 ZH2B2B2ZF3ZB2B2ZP2F3 H4G4ZF3U3N3F3F3H2F3Z ZP2F3Z

SCENE I	A
	-
Adam and Eve	B
	-
Adam Since that last evening we have fallen indeed	C
Yes we have fallen my Eve O yes	D
One two and three and four the Appetite	E
The Enjoyment the aftervoid the thinking of it	F
Specially the latter two most specially the last	G
There in synopsis see you have it all	H
Come let us go and work	I
Is it not enough	J
What is there three four five	K
	-
Eve Oh guilt guilt guilt	L
	-
Adam Be comforted muddle not your soul with doubt	M
'Tis done it was to be done if indeed	C
Other way than this there was I cannot say	N
This was one way and a way was needs to be found	O
That which we were we could no more remain	P
Than in the moist provocative vernal mould	Q
A seed its suckers close and rest a seed	C
We were to grow Necessity on us lay	N
This way or that to move necessity too	R
Not to be over careful this or that	S
So only move we should	T
Come my wife	U
We were to grow and grow I think we may	N
And yet bear goodly fruit	V
	-
Eve Oh guilt oh guilt	L
	-
Adam You weary me with your 'Oh guilt oh guilt '	-
Peace to the senseless iteration What	W
Because I plucked an apple from a twig	X
Be damned to death eterne parted from Good	T
Enchained to Ill No by the God of gods	Y
No by the living will within my breast	Z
It cannot be and shall not and if this	A2
This guilt of your distracted fantasy	B2
Be our experiment's sum thank God for guilt	L
Which makes me free	B2
But thou poor wife poor mother shall I say	N
Big with the first maternity of man	C2
Draw'st from thy teeming womb thick fancies fond	D2
That with confusion mix thy delicate brain	P
Fondest of which and cloudiest call the dream	E2
Yea my beloved hear me it is a dream	E2
Of the serpent and the apple and the curse	F2
Fondest of dreams and cloudiest of clouds	G2
Well I remember in our marriage bower	H2
How in the dewiest balminess of rest	Z
Inarm d as we lay sudden at once	I2
Up from my side you started screaming 'Guilt '	-
And 'Lost lost lost ' I on my elbow rose	J2
And rubbed unwilling eyes and cried 'Eve Eve	B
My love my wife ' and knit anew the embrace	K2
And drew thee to me close and calmed thy fear	L2
And wooed thee back to sleep In vain for soon	M2
I felt thee gone and opening widest eyes	N2
Beheld thee kneeling on the turf hands now	O2
Clenched and uplifted high now vainly outspread	Z
To hide a burning face and streaming eyes	N2
And pale small lips that muttered faintly 'Death '	-
And thou would'st fain depart thou said'st the place	K2
Was for the like of us too good we left	Z
The pleasant woodland shades and passed abroad	Z
Into this naked Champaign glorious soil	P2
For digging and for delving but indeed	Z
Until I killed a beast or two and spread	Z
Skins upon sticks to make our palace here	Q2
A residence sadly exposed to wind and rain	P
But I in all submit to you and then	R2
I turned out too and trudged a furlong's space	K2
Till you fell tired and fain would wait for morn	S2
So as our nightly journey we began	C2
Because the autumnal fruitage that had fallen	T2
From trees whereunder we had slept lay thick	U2
And we had eaten overnight and seen	V2
And saw again by starlight when you woke me	B2
A sly and harmless snake glide by our couch	W2
And because some few hours before a lamb	X2
Fell from a rock and broke its neck and I	A
Had answered to your wonder that 'twas dead	Z
Forsooth the molten lava of your fright	Z
Forth from your brain its crater hurrying down	Y2
Took the chance mould the vapour blowing by	A
Caught and reflected back some random shapes	Z2
A vague and queasy dream was obstinate	Z
In waking thoughts to find itself renewed	Z
And to the mighty Mythus of the Fall	H
Nay smile with me sweet mother	H2
	-
Eve Guilt oh guilt	Z
	-
Adam Peace woman peace I go	A3
	-
Eve Nay Adam nay	N
Hear me I am not dreaming am not crazed	Z
Did not yourself confess that we are changed	Z
Do not you too	Z
	-
Adam Do not I too Well well	B3
Listen I too when homeward weary of toil	P2
Through the dark night I have wandered in rain and wind	Z
Bewildered haply scared I too have lost heart	Z
And deemed all space with angry power replete	Z
Angry almighty and panic stricken have cried	Z
'What have I done ' 'What wilt thou do to me '	-
Or with the coward's 'No I did not I will not '	-
Belied my own soul's self I too have heard	Z
And listened too to a voice that in my ear	Q2
Hissed the temptation to curse God or worse	F2
And yet more frequent curse myself and die	A
Until in fine I have begun to half believe	B
Your dream my dream too and the dream of both	C3
No dream but dread reality have shared	Z
Your fright e'en so share thou sweet life my hope	D3
I too again when weeds with growth perverse	F2
Have choked my corn and marred a season's toil	P2
Have deemed I heard in heaven abroad a cry	A
'Cursed is the ground for thy sake thou art cursed '	-
But oftener far and stronger also far	E3
In consonance with all things out and in	F3
I hear a voice more searching bid me 'On	F3
On on it is the folly of the child	Z
To choose his path and straightway think it wrong	G3
And turn right back and lie on the ground to weep	H3
Forward go conquer work and live 'Withal	P2
A word comes half command half prophecy	B2
Forgetting things behind thee onward press	D
Unto the mark of your high calling ' Yea	N
And voices too in woods and flowery fields	I3
Speak confidence from budding banks and boughs	J3
And tell me 'Live and grow ' and say 'Look still	P2
Upward spread outward trust be patient live '	-
Therefore if weakness bid me curse and die	A
I answer No I will not curse myself	K3
Nor aught beside I shall not die but live	K
	-
Eve Ah me alas alas	L3
More dismally in my face stares the doubt	Z
More heavily on my heart weighs the world	Z
Methinks	L3
The questionings of ages yet to be	B2
The thinkings and cross thinkings self contempts	L3
Self horror all despondencies despairs	L3
Of multitudinous souls on souls to come	M3
In me imprisoned fight complain and cry	A
Alas	L3
Mystery mystery mystery evermore	N3
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	-
	-
SCENE II	A
	-
Adam alone	F3
	-
Adam Misery oh my misery O God God	Z
How could I ever ever could I do it	Z
Whither am I come where am I O me miserable	P2
My God my God that I were back with Thee	B2
O fool O fool O irretrievable act	Z
Irretrievable what I should like to know	F3
What act I wonder What is it I mean	F3
O heaven the spirit holds me I must yield	Z
Up in the air he lifts me casts me down	F3
I writhe in vain with limbs convulsed in the void	Z
Well well I go idle words babble your will	P2
I think the fit will leave me ere I die	A
Fool fool where am I O my God Fool fool	P2
Why did we do 't Eve Eve where are You quick	U2
His tread is in the garden hither it comes	L3
Hide us O bushes and ye thick trees hide	Z
He comes on on Alack and all these leaves	L3
These petty quivering and illusive blinds	L3
Avail us nought the light comes in and in	F3
Displays us to ourselves displays ah shame	O3
Unto the inquisitive day our nakedness	L3
He comes He calls The large eye of His truth	P3
His full severe all comprehending view	Z
Fixes itself upon our guiltiness	L3
O God O God what are we what shall we be	B2
What is all this about I wonder now	F3
Yet I am better too I think it will pass	L3
'Tis going now unless it comes again	F3
A terrible possession while it lasts	L3
Terrible surely and yet indeed 'tis true	Z
E'en in my utmost impotence I find	Z
A fount of strange persistence in my soul	P2
Also and that perchance is stronger still	P2
A wakeful changeless touchstone in my brain	F3
Receiving noting testing all the while	P2
These passing curious new phenomena	F3
Painful and yet not painful unto it	Z
Though tortured in the crucible I lie	A
Myself my own experiment yet still	P2
I or a something that is I indeed	Z
A living central and more inmost I	A
Within the scales of mere exterior me's	L3
I seem eternal O thou God as Thou	F3
Have knowledge of the evil and the good	Z
Superior in a higher good to both	C3
Well well well it has gone from me though still	P2
Its images remain upon me whole	P2
And undisplaced upon my mind I view	Z
The reflex of the total seizure past	Z
Really now had I only time and space	L3
And were not troubled with this wife of mine	F3
And the necessity of meat and drink	Q3
I really do believe	B
With time and space and proper quietude	Z
I could resolve the problem in my brain	F3
But no I scarce can stay one moment more	N3
To watch the curious seething process out	Z
If I could only dare to let Eve see	L3
These operations it is like enough	J
Between us two we two could make it out	Z
But she would be so frightened think it proof	R3
Of all her own imaginings 'Twill not do	Z
So as it is	L3
I must e'en put a cheery face on it	Z
Suppress the whole rub off the unfinished thoughts	L3
For fear she read them O 'tis pity indeed	Z
But confidence is the one and main thing now	F3
Who loses confidence he loses all	P2
A demi grain of cowardice in me	L3
Avowed were poison to the whole mankind	Z
When men are plentier 'twill be time to try	A
At present no	F3
No	F3
Shake it all up and go	F3
That is the word and that must be obeyed	Z
I must be off But yet again some day	Z
Again will I resume it if not I	A
I in some child of late posterity	L3
Yes yes I feel it it is here the seed	Z
Here in my head but O thou Power unseen	F3
In whom we live and move and have our being	S3
Let it not perish grant unlost unhurt	Z
In long transmission this rich atom some day	Z
In some posterity of distant years	L3
How many thou intendest to have I know not	Z
In some matured and procreant human brain	F3
May germinate burst and rise into a tree	L3
No I shall not tell Eve	B
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SCENE III	A
Now the birth of Cain was in this wise	L3
	-
Adam and Eve	B
	-
Eve Oh Adam I am comforted indeed	Z
Where is he O my little one	F3
My heart is in the garden as of old	Z
And Paradise come back	T3
	-
Adam My love	U3
Blessed be this good day to thee indeed	Z
Blessed the balm of joy unto thy soul	P2
A sad unskilful nurse was I to thee	L3
But nature teaches mothers I perceive	B
	-
Eve But you my husband you meantime I feel	P2
Join not your perfect spirit in my joy	V3
No your spirit mixes not I feel with mine	F3
	-
Adam Alas sweet love for many a weary day	Z
You and not I have borne this heavy weight	Z
How can I should I might I feel your bliss	L3
Now heaviness is changed to glory Long	G3
In long and unparticipated pangs	L3
Your heart hath known its own great bitterness	L3
How should in this its jubilant release	L3
A stranger intermeddle with its joy	V3
	-
Eve My husband there is more in it than this	L3
Nay you are surely positively sad	Z
	-
Adam What if I was and yet I think I am not	Z
'Twere but the silly and contrarious mood	Z
Of one whose sympathies refuse to mix	L3
In aught not felt immediate from himself	K3
But of a truth	P3
Your joy is greater mine seems therefore none	F3
	-
Eve Nay neither this I think nor that is true	Z
Evermore still you love to cheat me Adam	M3
You hide from me your thoughts like evil beasts	L3
Most foolishly for I thus left to guess	L3
Catch at all hints and where perchance one is	L3
People the forest with a hundred ills	L3
Each worse perhaps a hundred times than it	Z
No you have got some fearful thoughts no no	F3
Look not in that way on my baby Adam	M3
You do it hurt you shall not	Z
	-
Adam Hear me Eve	B
If hear you will and speak I think I must	Z
Hear me	L3
What is it I would say I think	Q3
And yet I must so hear me mother blest	Z
That sittest with thy nursling at thy heart	Z
Hope not too greatly neither fear for him	W3
Feeling on thy breast his small compressing lips	L3
And glorying in the gift they draw from thee	L3
Hope not too greatly in thyself and him	W3
And hear me O young mother I must speak	X3
This child is born of us and therefore like us	L3
Is born of us and therefore is as we	L3
Is born of us and therefore is not pure	Y3
Earthy as well as godlike bound to strive	K
Not doubtfully I augur from the past	Z
Through the same straits of anguish and of doubt	Z
'Mid the same storms of terror and alarm	Z3
To the calm ocean which he yet shall reach	A4
He or himself or in his sons hereafter	H2
Of consummated consciousness of self	K3
The self same stuff which wrought in us to grief	B4
Runs in his veins and what to work in him	W3
What shape of unsuspected deep disguise	L3
Transcending our experience our best cares	L3
Baffling evading all preventive thought	Z
Will the old mischief choose I wonder here	Q2
O born to human trouble also born	F3
Else wherefore born to some diviner lot	Z
Live and may chance treat thee no worse than us	L3
There I have done the dangerous stuff is out	Z
My mind is freed And now my gentle Eve	B
Forgive thy foolish spouse and let me set	Z
A father's kiss upon these budding lips	L3
A husband's on the mother's the full flower	H2
There there and so my own and only wife	U
Believe me my worst thought is now to learn	F3
How best and most to serve this child and thee	L3
This child is born of us and therefore like us	L3
Most true mine own and if a man like me	L3
Externally internally I trust	Z
Most like to thee the better of the twain	F3
Is born of us and therefore is not pure	Y3
Did I say that I know not what I said	Z
It was a foolish humour but indeed	Z
Whatever you may think I have not learnt	Z
The trick of deep suppression e'en the skill	P2
To sort my thoughts and sift my words enough	J
Not pure indeed And if it is not pure	Y3
What is Ah well but most I look to the days	L3
When these small arms with pliant thews filled out	Z
Shall at my side break up the fruitful glebe	B2
And aid the cheery labours of the year	L2
Aid or in feebler wearier years replace	L3
And leave me longer hours for home and love	U3
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	-
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SCENE IV	U3
	-
Adam and Eve	U3
	-
Eve O Adam it was I was godless then	F3
But you were mournful heavy but composed	Z
At times would somewhat fiercely bite your lip	C4
And pass your hand about your brow but still	P2
Held out denied not God acknowledged still	P2
Those glories that were gone No I never	H2
Felt all your worth to me before I feel	P2
You did not fall as I did	Z
	-
Adam Nay my child	Z
About our falls I don't profess to know	F3
I know I ne'er was innocent as thou	F3
I only know as you will have it so	F3
Were your descent more lengthy than was mine	F3
It is not that your place is lower now	F3
But that first 'twas higher up than mine	F3
It is that I being bestial you divine	F3
We now alike are human beings both	C3
About our fall I won't profess to know	F3
But know I do	Z
That I was never innocent as thou	F3
Moping again my love yes I dare swear	D4
All the day long while I have been at work	I
With some religious folly in your head	Z
	-
Eve No Adam I am cheerful quite to day	Z
I vary much indeed from hour to hour	H2
But since my baby's birth I am happier far	E3
And I have done some work as well as you	Z
	-
Adam What is it tho' for I will take my oath	C3
You've got some fancy stirring in your brain	F3
	-
Eve Nay but it vexes me for evermore	N3
To find in you no credence to my thought	Z
	-
Adam What is it then you wish me to subscribe to	Z
That we were in a garden put by God	Z
Allowed to eat of all the trees but one	F3
Somehow I don't know how a serpent tempted us	L3
And eat we did and so were doomed to die	A
Whereas before we were meant to live for ever	H2
Meantime turned out	Z
	-
Eve You do not think then Adam	M3
We have been disobedient unto God	Z
	-
Adam My child how should I know and what do you mean	F3
Your question's not so simple as it looks	L3
For if you mean that God said this or that	Z
As that 'You shall not touch those apples there '	-
And that we did why all that I can say	Z
Is that I can't conceive the thing to be	B2
But if it were so I should then believe	U3
We had done right at any rate no harm	Z3
	-
Eve O Adam I can scarcely think I hear	Q2
For if God said to us God being God	Z
'You shall not ' is not His commandment His	L3
And are not we the creatures He hath made	Z
	-
Adam My child God does not speak to human minds	L3
In that unmeaning arbitrary way	Z
God were not God if so and good not good	Z
Search in your heart and if you tell me there	D4
You find a genuine voice no fancy mind you	Z
Declaring to you this or that is evil	P2
Why this or that I daresay evil is	L3
Believe me I will listen to the word	Z
For not by observation of without	Z
Cometh the kingdom of the voice of God	Z
It is within us let us seek it there	D4
	-
Eve Yet I have voices surely in my heart	Z
Often you say I heed them over much	E4
	-
Adam God's voice is of the heart I do not say	Z
All voices therefore of the heart are God's	L3
And to discern the voice amidst the voices	L3
Is that hard task my love that we are born to	Z
	-
Eve Ah me in me I am sure the one one voice	L3
Goes somehow to the sense of what I say	Z
The sense of disobedience to God	Z
O Adam some way some time we have done wrong	G3
And when I think of this I still must think	Q3
Of Paradise and of the stately tree	B2
Which in the middle of the garden grew	Z
The golden fruit that hung upon its boughs	L3
Of which but once we eat and I must feel	P2
That whereas once in His continual sight	Z
We lived in daily communing with Him	W3
We now are banished and behold not Him	W3
Our only present communing alas	L3
Is penitential mourning and the gaze	L3
Of the abased and prostrate prayerful soul	P2
But you yourself my Adam you at least	Z
Acknowledge some time somehow we did wrong	G3
	-
Adam My child I never even granted that	Z
	-
Eve Oh but you let strange words at times fall from you	Z
They are to me like thunderbolts from heaven	F3
I listen terrified and sick at heart	Z
Then haste and pick them up and treasure them	F4
What was it that you said when Cain was born	F3
'He's born of us and therefore is not pure '	-
O you corrected well my husband then	F3
My foolish fond exuberance of delight	Z
	-
Adam My child believe me truly I was the fool	P2
But a first baby is a strange surprise	L3
I shall not say so when another comes	L3
And I beseech you treasure up no words	L3
You know me I am loose of tongue and light	Z
I beg you Eve remember nought of this	L3
Put not at least I pray you nay command	Z
Put not when days come on your own strange whim	W3
And misconstruction of my idle words	L3
Into the tender brains of our poor young ones	L3
	-
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SCENE V	B2
	-
Adam with Cain and Abel	P2
	-
Adam Cain beware	D4
Strike not your brother I have said beware	D4
A heavy curse is on this thing my son	F3
With doubt and fear	L2
Terror and toil and pain already here	Q2
Let us not have injustice too my son	F3
So Cain beware	D4
And Abel too see you provoke him not	Z
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SCENE VI	A
	-
Abel alone	F3
	-
Abel At times I could believe	U3
My father is no better than his son	F3
If not as overbearing proud and hard	Z
Yet prayerless worldly almost more than Cain	F3
Enlighten and convert him ere the end	Z
My God spurn not my mother's prayers and mine	F3
Since I was born was I not left to Thee	B2
In an unspiritual and godless house	L3
Unfathered and unbrothered Thine and hers	L3
They think not of the fall e'en less they think	Q3
Of the redemption which God said should be	B2
Which for we apprehend it by our faith	G4
Already is is come for her and me	B2
Yea though I sin my sin is not to death	H4
In my repentance I have joy such joy	V3
That almost I could sin to seek for it	Z
Yea if I did not hate it and abhor	N3
And know that Thou abhorr'st and hatest it	Z
And will'st for an example to the rest	Z
That Thine elect should keep themselves from it	Z
Alas	L3
My mother calls the fall a mystery	B2
Redemption is so too But oh my God	Z
Thou wilt bring all things in the end to good	Z
Yea though the whole earth lie in wickedness I	A
Am with Thee with Thee with Thee evermore	N3
Ah yet I am not satisfied with this	L3
Am I not feeding spiritual pride	Z
Rejoicing over sinners inelect	Z
And unadmitted to the fellowship	C4
Which I unworthy most unworthy share	D4
What can I do how can I help it then	F3
O God remove it from my heart pluck out	Z
Whatever pain whatever wrench to me	B2
These sinful roots and remnants which whate'er	H2
I do how high so e'er I soar from earth	I4
Still undestroyed still germinate within	F3
Take them away in Thy good time O God	Z
Meantime for that atonement's precious sake	J4
Which in Thy counsels predetermined works	L3
Already to the saving of the saints	L3
O Father view with mercy and forgive	U3
Nor let my vexed perception of my sin	F3
Nor any multitude of evil thoughts	L3
Crowding like demons in my spirit's house	L3
Nor life nor death things here or things below	F3
Cast out the sweet assurance of my soul	P2
That I am Thine and Thou art mine my God	Z
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SCENE VII	U3
	-
Cain alone	F3
	-
Cain Am I or am I not this which they think me	B2
My mother loves me not my brother Abel	P2
Searing my heart commends my soul to God	Z
My father does not shun me there's my comfort	Z
Almost I think they look askance on him	W3
Ah but fore him	W3
I know not what might happen for at times	L3
Ungovernable angers take the waves	L3
Of my deep soul and sweep them who knows whither	H2
And a strange impulse struggling to the truth	P3
Urges me onward to put forth my strength	K4
No matter how A wild anxiety	B2
Possesses me moreover to essay	Z
This world of action round me so unknown	F3
And to be able to do this or that	Z
Seems cause enough without a cause for doing it	Z
My father he is cheerful and content	Z
And leads me frankly forward Yet indeed	Z
His leading or more truly to be led	Z
At all by any one and not myself	U3
Is mere dissatisfaction evermore	N3
Something I must do individual	P2
To vindicate my nature to give proof	U3
I also am as Adam is a man	F3
	-
	-
	-
SCENE VIII	U3
	-
Adam and Eve	U3
	-
Adam These sacrificings O my best beloved	Z
These rites and forms which you have taught our boys	L3
Which I nor practise nor can understand	Z
Will turn I trust to good but I much fear	L2
Besides the superstitious search of signs	L3
In merest accidents of earth and air	D4
They cause I think a sort of jealousy	B2
Ill blood Hark now	F3
	-
Eve O God whose cry is that	Z
Abel where is my Abel	P2
	-
Adam Cain what Cain	F3
	-
	-
	-
SCENE IX	B2
	-
Cain alone with the body of Abel	P2
	-
Cain What fallen so quickly down so easily felled	Z
And so completely Why he does not move	U3
Will not he stir will he not breathe again	F3
Still as a log still as his own dead lamb	X2
Dead is it then O wonderful O strange	L4
Dead dead And we can slay each other then	F3
If we are wronged why we can right ourselves	B2
If we are plagued and pestered with a fool	P2
That will not let us be nor leave us room	M4
To do our will and shape our path in peace	B2
We can be rid of him There he is gone	F3
Victory victory victory My heaven	F3
Methinks from infinite distances borne back	T3
It comes to me re born in multitude	Z
Echoed re echoed and re echoed again	F3
Victory victory distant yet distinct	Z
Uncountable times repeated O ye gods	B2
Where am I come and whither am I borne	F3
I stand upon the pinnacle of earth	I4
And hear the wild seas laughing at my feet	Z
Yet I could wish that he had struggled more	N3
That passiveness was disappointing Ha	N4
He should have writhed and wrestled in my arms	B2
And all but overcome and set his knee	B2
Hard on my chest till I all faint yet still	P2
Holding my fingers at his throat at last	Z
Inch after inch had forced him to relax	B2
But he went down at once without a word	Z
Almost without a look	O4
Ah hush My God I	A
Who was it spoke What is this questioner	H2
Who was it asked me where my brother is	B2
Ha ha Was I his keeper I know not	Z
Each for himself he might have struck again	F3
Why did he not I wished him to Was I	A
To strike for both at once No Yet ah	N4
Where is thy brother Peace thou silly voice	B2
Am I my brother's keeper I know not	Z
I know not aught about it let it be	B2
Henceforth I shall walk freely upon earth	I4
And know my will and do it by my might	Z
My God it will not be at peace my God	Z
It flames it bursts to fury in my soul	P2
What is it that will come of this Ah me	B2
What is it I have done Almighty God	Z
I see it I behold it as it is	B2
As it will be in all the times to come	M3
Slaughter on slaughter blood for blood and death	H4
For ever ever ever evermore	N3
And all for what	Z
O Abel brother mine	F3
Where'er thou art more happy far than me	B2
	-
	-
	-
SCENE X	B2
	-
Adam alone	F3
	-
Adam Abel is dead and Cain ah what is Cain	F3
Is he not even more than Abel dead	Z
Well we must hope in Seth This merest man	F3
This unambitious common place of life	U3
Will after all perhaps mend all and though	F3
Record shall tell men to the after time	P4
No wondrous tales of him in him at last	Z
And in his seed increased and multiplied	Z
Earth shall be blest and peopled and subdued	Z
And what was meant to be be brought to pass	B2
Oh but my Abel and my Cain e'en so	F3
You shall not be forgotten nor unknown	F3
	-
	-
	-
SCENE XI	B2
	-
Cain and Eve	U3
	-
Cain I am come Curse me	B2
Curse Cain my mother ere he goes He waits	B2
	-
Eve Who What is this	B2
Oh Abel O my gentle holy child	Z
My perfect son	F3
Monster and did I bear thee too	Z
	-
Cain He was so good his brother hated him	W3
And slew him for't Go on my mother on	F3
	-
	-
	-
Eve For there are rites and holy means of grace	B2
Of God ordained for man's eternal weal	P2
With these my son address thyself to Him	W3
And seek atonement from a gracious God	Z
With whom is balm for every wounded heart	Z
	-
Cain I ask not for atonement mother mine	F3
I ask but one thing never to forget	Z
I ask but not to add to one great crime	P4
Another self delusion scarcely less	B2
I could ask more but more I know is sin	F3
If sacrifices and the fat of lambs	B2
And whole burnt offerings upon piles of turf	U3
Will bring me this I'd fill the heaven with smoke	Q4
And deface earth with million fiery scars	B2
I could ask back and think it but my right	Z
And passionately claim it as my right	Z
That precious life which one misguided blow	P2
Which one scarce conscious momentary act	Z
One impulse blindly followed to its close	B2
Ended for ever but that I know this vain	F3
If they shall only keep my sin in mind	Z
I shall not be assured neglect them either	H2
	-
Eve You ask not for atonement O my son	F3
Cain you are proud and hard of heart e'en now	F3
Beware	D4
Prostrate your soul in penitential prayer	D4
Humble your heart beneath the mighty hand	Z
Of God whose gracious guidance oft shall lead	Z
Through sin and crime the changed and melted heart	Z
To sweet repentance and the sense of Him	W3
You ask not for atonement O my son	F3
What to be banished from the sight of God	Z
To dwell with wicked spirits be a prey	Z
To them and prey yourself on human souls	B2
What to be lost in wickedness and wrath	R4
Deeper and deeper down	F3
What Cain do you choose this	B2
	-
Cain Alas my mother	H2
I know not there are mysteries in your heart	Z
Which I profess not knowledge of it may be	B2
That this is so if so may God reveal it	Z
Have faith you too in my heart's secrets yea	Z
All I can say alas is that to me	B2
As I now comprehend it this were sin	F3
Atonement no not that but punishment	Z
But what avails to talk talk as we will	P2
As yet we shall not know each other's hearts	B2
Let me not talk but act Farewell for ever	H2
	-
	-
	-
SCENE XII	B2
	-
Adam and Cain	F3
	-
Cain This is the history then my father is it	Z
This is the perfect whole	P2
	-
Adam My son it is	B2
And whether a dream or if it were a dream	E2
A transcript of an inward spiritual fact	Z
As you suggest and I allow might be	B2
Not the less true because it was a dream	E2
I know not O my Cain I cannot tell	P2
But in my soul I think it was a dream	E2
And but a dream a thing whence'er it came	O3
To be forgotten and considered not	Z
	-
Cain Father you should have told me this before	N3
It is no use now Oh God my brother oh God	Z
	-
	-
	-
Adam For what is life and what is pain or death	H4
You have killed Abel Abel killed the lamb	X2
An act in him prepense in you unthought of	U3
One step you stirred and lo you stood entrapped	Z
	-
Cain My father this is true I know but yet	Z
There is some truth beside I cannot say	B2
But I have heard within my soul a voice	B2
Asking 'Where is thy brother ' and I said	Z
That is the evil heart within me said	Z
'Am I my brother's keeper go ask him	W3
Who was it that provoked me should he rail	P2
And I not smite his death be on his head '	-
But the voice answered in my soul again	F3
So that the other ceased and was no more	N3
	-
	-
	-
SCENE XIII	B2
	-
Adam and Cain	F3
	-
Cain My father Abel's dead	Z
	-
Adam My son 'tis done it was to be done some good end	Z
Thereby to come or else it had not been	F3
Go for it must be Cain I know your heart	Z
You cannot be with us Go then depart	Z
But be not over scrupulous my son	F3
	-
Cain Curse me my father ere I go Your curse	B2
Will go with me for good your curse	B2
Will make me not forget	Z
Alas I am not of that pious kind	Z
Who when the blot has fallen upon their life	U3
Can look to heaven and think it white again	F3
Look up to heaven and find a something there	D4
To make what is not be altho' it is	B2
My mother ah how you have spoke of this	B2
The dead to him 'twas innocence and joy	V3
And purity and safety from the world	Z
To me the thing seems sin the worst of sin	F3
If it be so why are we here the world	Z
Why is it as I find it The dull stone	F3
Cast from my hand why comes it not again	F3
The broken flow'ret why does it not live	U3
If it be so	B2
Why are we here and why is Abel dead	Z
Shall this be true	Z
Of stocks and stones and mere inanimate clay	B2
And not in some sort also hold for us	B2
	-
Adam My son Time healeth all	P2
Time and great Nature heed her speech and learn	F3
	-
Cain My father you are learned in this sort	Z
You read the earth as does my mother heaven	F3
Both books are dark to me only I feel	P2
That this one thing	S3
And this one word in me must be declared	Z
That to forget is not to be restored	Z
To lose with time the sense of what we did	Z
Cancels not that we did what's done remains	B2
I am my brother's murderer Woe to me	B2
Abel is dead No prayers to empty heaven	F3
No vegetative kindness of the earth	I4
Will bring back warmth into his clay again	F3
The gentleness of love into his face	B2
Therefore for me farewell	P2
Farewell for me the soft	Z
The balmy influences of night and sleep	H3
The satisfaction of achievement done	F3
The restorative pulsing of the blood	Z
That changes all and changes e'en the soul	P2
And natural functions moving as they should	Z
The sweet good nights the sweet delusive dreams	B2
That lull us out of old things into new	Z
But welcome Fact and Fact's best brother Work	I
Welcome the conflict of the stubborn soil	P2
To toil the livelong day and at the end	Z
Instead of rest recarve into my brow	F3
The dire memorial mark of what still is	B2
Welcome this worship which I feel is mine	F3
Welcome this duty	B2
the solidarity of life	U3
And unity of individual soul	P2
That which I did I did I who am here	Q2
There is no safety but in this and when	F3
I shall deny the thing that I have done	F3
I am a dream	E2
	-
Adam My son	F3
What shall I say	B2
That which your soul in marriage with the world	Z
Imbreeds in you accept how can I say	B2
Refuse the revelations of the soul	P2
Yet be not over scrupulous my son	F3
And be not over proud to put aside	Z
The due consolements of the circling years	B2
What comes receive be not too wise for God	Z
The past is something but the present more	N3
Will not it too be past nor fail withal	P2
To recognise the future in our hopes	B2
Unite them in your manhood each and all	P2
Nor mutilate the perfectness of life	U3
You can remember you can also hope	D3
And doubtless with the long instructive years	B2
Comfort will come to you my son to me	B2
Even to your mother comfort but to us	B2
Knowledge at least the certainty of things	B2
Which as I think is consolation's sum	M3
For truly now to day to morrow yes	B2
Days many more to come alike to you	Z
Whose earliest revelation of the world	Z
Is horrible indeed this fatal fact	Z
And unto me who knowing not much before	N3
Look gropingly and idly into this	B2
And recognise no figure I have seen	F3
Alike my son to me and to yourself	U3
Much is now dark which one day will be light	Z
With strong assurance fortify your soul	P2
Of this and that you meet me here again	F3
Promise me Cain Farewell to meet again	F3
	-
	-
	-
SCENE XIV	U3
	-
Adam's Vision	F3
	-
Adam O Cain the words of Adam shall be said	Z
Come near and hear your father's words my son	F3
I have been in the spirit as they call it	Z
Dreaming which is as others say the same	O3
I sat and you Cain with me and Eve	U3
We sat as in a picture people sit	Z
Great figures silent with their place content	Z
And Abel came and took your hand my son	F3
And wept and kissed you saying 'Forgive me Cain	F3
Ah me my brother sad has been thy life	U3
For my sake all thro' me how foolishly	B2
Because we knew not both of us were right '	-
And you embraced and wept and we too wept	Z
	-
Then I beheld through eyes with tears suffused	Z
And deemed at first 'twas blindness thence ensuing	S3
Abel was gone and you were gone my son	F3
Gone and yet not gone yea I seemed to see	B2
The decomposing of those coloured lines	B2
Which we called you their fusion into one	F3
And therewithal their vanishing and end	Z
And Eve said to me 'Adam in the day	B2
When in the inexistent void I heard God's voice	B2
An awful whisper bidding me to be	B2
How slow was I to come how loth to obey	B2
As slow as sad as lingeringly loth	S4
I fade I vanish sink and cease to be	B2
By the same sovereign strong compulsion borne	F3
Ah if I vanish take me into thee '	-
She spoke nor speaking ceased I listening but	Z
I was alone yet not alone with her	H2
And she with me and you with us my sons	B2
As at the first and yet not wholly yea	B2
And that which I had witnessed thus in you	Z
This fusion and mutation and return	F3
Seemed in my substance working too I slept	Z
I did not dream my sleep was sweet to me	B2
Yes in despite of all disquietudes	B2
For Eve for you for Abel which indeed	Z
Impelled in me that gaiety of soul	P2
Without your fears I had listened to my own	F3
In spite of doubt despondency and death	H4
Though lacking knowledge alway lacking faith	G4
Sometimes and hope with no sure trust in ought	Z
Except a kind of impetus within	F3
Whose sole credentials were that trust itself	U3
Yet in despite of much in lack of more	N3
Life has been beautiful to me my son	F3
And I if I am called will come again	F3
As he hath lived he dies My comforter	H2
Whom I believed not only trusted in	F3
What had I been without thee how survived	Z
Would I were with thee whereso'er thou art	Z
Would I might follow thee still	P2
But sleep is sweet and I would sleep my son	F3
Oh Cain behold your father's words are said	Z

Arthur Hugh Clough

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