Cain
Cain said, "My punishment is greater than I can bear" (Genesis 4:13). Then Cain went away from God and dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden (Genesis 4:16).
And so I’m back, drenched in rain,
jagged shoulders pulled round my brain;
another cold night with nothing to dream,
naked in metropolis but never seen.
Now I have no soul to save,
no mind to use, no feelings to brave;
just stumbling through the dark,
a lost dog in an empty park
barking at one more brief shiny light,
pining for life’s fickle paradise.
1985
