Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ANCIENT HISTORY, by SIEGFRIED SASSOON


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First Line: Adam, a brown old vulture in the rain
Last Line: The gaunt wild man whose lovely sons were dead.
Subject(s): Abel; Adam & Eve; Bible; Cain; Religion; Soldiers; Theology


ADAM, a brown old vulture in the rain,
Shivered below his wind-whipped olive-trees;
Huddling sharp chin on scarred and scraggy knees,
He moaned and mumbled to his darkening brain;
'He was the grandest of them all -- was Cain!
'A lion laired in the hills, that none could tire;
'Swift as a stag; a stallion of the plain,
'Hungry and fierce with deeds of huge desire.'

Grimly he thought of Abel, soft and fair --
A lover with disaster in his face,
And scarlet blossom twisted in bright hair.
'Afraid to fight; was murder more disgrace?...
'God always hated Cain' ... He bowed his head --
The gaunt wild man whose lovely sons were dead.






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