The Mrk Of Cain Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEEFGFHIJKLMMNONL PQRQFSMLTUHTHGTTT FTTTMTMTFVMV WXTTMHM TMJM HTHT NMNM MHYMMOMOTTZMZTA2OGOM MMB2T TTTTJMC2MJMJM T| The poor pilgrims dragged themselves wearily | A |
| along to Mecca through gray Syria | B |
| huddled and doubled up | C |
| the pilgrims stumbled along | D |
| away from delusion and ferment | E |
| to repent repent repent | E |
| And I was standing like an impenitent sinner | F |
| on the summit of the mountain | G |
| where once upon a time don't stir | F |
| Abel was killed by Cain | H |
| And of all communiqu s of blood | I |
| the most unforgettable | J |
| the elemental voice was heard | K |
| 'Cain where is your brother Abel ' | L |
| But once again the Pharisees | M |
| with their vile sweet voices | M |
| 'Why do you worry about visions that are fake | N |
| Yes with Abel maybe we should have held back | O |
| Admittedly there was a little mistake | N |
| but generally speaking we were on the right track ' | L |
| And I was standing on the summit | P |
| between those ahead and the hosts behind | Q |
| above a world where people could commit | R |
| every corruption of their own kind | Q |
| There was no lightning and no thunder | F |
| but the stones were crying with mouths opened wide | S |
| 'The corruption of the soul may be bloodless | M |
| but it is also fratricide ' | L |
| And I imagined a gloomy dead | T |
| brick orphanage | U |
| where as with henbane | H |
| the children of Abel are spoonfed | T |
| with lies by the children of Cain | H |
| And in the faces of Abel's children | G |
| doing what they know that they must do | T |
| which is always to stay silent | T |
| the red mark of Cain shows through | T |
| - | |
| And I no one's murderer | F |
| was standing on the sticky summit | T |
| but my conscience murmured | T |
| like the Bible 'You won't be able to quit | T |
| You're corrupting your spirit with lies | M |
| and your spirit is crumbling cracking inside | T |
| And to kill yourself you cannot disguise | M |
| that that is also fratricide | T |
| And how many women you twister | F |
| lie like crucifixions along your way | V |
| but women they are your sisters | M |
| worth more than brothers can repay | V |
| And the Hussars' toasts 'To the ladies ' | - |
| what are they worth | W |
| Bravado empty form | X |
| To kill love you cannot evade it | T |
| that is also fratricide | T |
| And someone's gray brown eyes | M |
| staring at you with disdain | H |
| on your forehead cicatrize | M |
| you with the eternal mark of Cain ' | - |
| I shuddered | T |
| 'Quiet O conscience | M |
| You know this is not comparable | J |
| it is like comparing a children's circus | M |
| with a bloody Roman shambles ' | - |
| - | |
| But the shadow of bony Cain | H |
| jutted out from the rocks near at hand | T |
| and the blood of the brother he had slain | H |
| was endlessly dripping from my hand | T |
| - | |
| 'Look my bloody hands shake | N |
| As a child it was fun to improvise | M |
| out of curiosity to break | N |
| the velvet wings of butterflies | M |
| and then fratricide ' | - |
| - | |
| My conscience the protectress | M |
| of the mark of Cain | H |
| the prophetess seer said again | Y |
| with prophetically bitter sadness | M |
| 'What will you say to the eternal skies | M |
| and the court of stars when you cannot run back | O |
| To say I am sinless would be telling lies | M |
| but generally speaking I'm on the right track | O |
| You know all those whom you hate | T |
| set this up as the true state | T |
| while the cigarettes take on | Z |
| the smell of burning flesh the Winstons and the Kents | M |
| and the bullet that passed through John | Z |
| kills Robert Kennedy | T |
| And the bombs charge the earth turn | A2 |
| brown villages bloodred fire black | O |
| Admittedly they fall on children | G |
| but generally speaking they're on the right track | O |
| Everything begins with the butterflies | M |
| later it comes round to bombs | M |
| No amount of washing purifies | M |
| the blood on your hands will be your doom | B2 |
| The only murder that is fit | T |
| is to kill the Cain inside ' | - |
| - | |
| And losing my footing on the sticky summit | T |
| face to face with the infinite | T |
| I tore the flesh open in my side | T |
| and the strangled embryo Cain died | T |
| I strangled everything mean and evil | J |
| all that you would later despise | M |
| but it was far too late to heal | C2 |
| the broken wings of the butterflies | M |
| And the wind blood soaked invisible | J |
| lashed at me from the fury of space | M |
| as if the pages of the Bible | J |
| were lashing me on the face | M |
| - | |
| - | |
| Translated by Geoffrey Dutton with Igor Mezhakoff Koriakin revised | T |
Yevgeny Yevtushenko
(1)
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About The Mrk Of Cain
The Mrk Of Cain is a poem by Yevgeny Yevtushenko. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.