Scene II.

THE DESERT.

CAIN .

This mortal agony will pass from me,
The last, for now all ties with life are broken;
I am alone with God and solitude.
I kneel to Thee, but how appeal, or shape
Thoughts, fashioned forth from dust, and ignorance?
I know of Thee but through this visible world,
Thine image, the reflection of thyself;
For thou, Omnipotent! couldst not mould a form
From other types than thine. It draws its life
From yonder sun, as I my breath from thee
I saw thy altar-place was earth, the clouds
Its breath of incense Voices spake of thee
In woods and hills; I felt power in them dwelt,
Intelligences heard among themselves.
I poured my spirit forth to them in vain;
They turned on me their sightless visages,
But answered nothing! Lord, thou knewest all
I was ordained to be, and by thy will.
These hands are red, even with a brother's blood;
I offer thee myself in sacrifice.
Oh, mighty art thou in thy punishments,
But be thou mightier in forgiveness;
Why mad'st thou me to slay the innocent?
If to prove good from ill, why chosen I
Who would have been as they? Teach me to know thee;
Give me a sign thou hear'st, if to denounce
The unforgiven. Hear me, thou enthroned
Beyond the stars.
I rise even as I knelt,
Unanswered, for my day of grace has passed,
Yea, thou art inaccessible to man
As Angel's thought; too far removed to hear,
Too pure to listen to a thing of dust.
The burden I have borne I still must bear
In hopelessness of spirit. Would I again
Were of the clay that made me! flower, or leaf,
Or bodiless presence — aught save that I am.