I beg your pity, you, my only light,
From dark abysses where my heart has fallen;
Here all the world lies numb; the skies are leaden
And blasphemies and horrors pierce the night.
Six months a sun hangs pale without its heat,
Six months the darkness hides the barren land.
Even the polar icecaps are more kind,
--No bird, no beast, no grass, no brook, no trees!
But nothing on this world so terrifies
Like the frigid cruelty of that sun of ice
And that enormous night of ancient wastes--
I'm jealous of the filthiest of the beasts
Who plunge in stupid sleep to drown the mind,
So slowly does the thread of time unwind!
-------
Cain and Abel
I.
Race of Abel, eat, drink, sleep
You are the apple of His eye;
Race of Cain, your kind must creep
Upon the dust until you die.
Race of Abel, your sacrifice
Flatters your angelic friend!
Race of Cain, expelled from grace,
When will your torture ever end?
Race of Abel, your seeds increase
Your cows grow healthy, strong and fat.
Race of Cain, your stomach squeaks
And bites you like a famished rat.
Race of Abel, warm your feet
Beside your fathers by the flame;
Race of Cain, out in the street
You'll shiver with the dogs in shame!
Race of Abel, love and breed!
The gold you love, too, multiplies;
Race of Cain, oppressed with need,
Your heart may burn but not turn wise.
Race of Abel, you swell and spread
Like termites in a dying tree!
Race of Cain, you’ll beg for bread
With all your children on their knees.
II.
Ah! Race of Abel, your rotting flesh
Will nourish plants beneath the sun!
Race of Cain, your fate is harsh;
Your work on earth is far from done.
Race of Abel, behold your lie:
The hunting-spear will break the sword!
Race of Cain, storm up the sky,
And from the heavens cast down God!
