The Mrk Of Cain Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEEFGFHIJKLMMNONL PQRQFSMLTUHTHGTTT FTTTMTMTFVMV WXTTMHM TMJM HTHT NMNM MHYMMOMOTTZMZTA2OGOM MMB2T TTTTJMC2MJMJM TThe 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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