Repentance

Repentance
by Majid Naficy
20-May-2009
 

Oh, Lord, forgive Thou me,

Not as Thou forgavest Thy children, Eve and Adam.

They tremble still

Behind the trees of Eden,

In awe of Thy mighty strides.

And they clutch the stolen green fruit

In their small hands.

Oh, Lord, forgive Thou me,

Not as Thou forgavest Thy son, Cain

Thou didst not want his corn,

But Thou accepted Abel's herd.

So Thou provoked Cain's jealousy

And put a dagger in his fist.

Oh, Lord, forgive Thou me,

Not as Thou forgavest Thy children, the people of Noah.

Thou punished them with such a mighty flood

That to this day

The crow which was sent

To bring news from land

Has not yet returned.

Oh, Lord, forgive Thou me,

Not as I forgave my son, Azad.

He woke up at midnight, demanding milk,

But I denied him

To break this nightly habit.

He began sobbing,

And I put my hand on his mouth

To silence him.

Deep in his eyes

I felt the sound of Adam's children,

Who for centuries have moaned

Under the wrath of their own god.

Oh, Lord...

Nay, thou my son, forgive thou me

Forgive me.

 

January 4, 1991

The English version of this poem was first published in Muddy Shoes (Beyond Baroque Books, 1999) and then in Father and Son (Red Hen Press, 2003) both by the author.

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No Kissing

by A Hassan Danesh, Sociologist ~ (not verified) on

Ryszard...

But I would say if you look a bit deeper into the matter I bet you will find it neither stunning nor sad...

Cain work is like kissing without going all the way through for complete mission, where as Abel says no kiss or if kiss then it must be all...in anohter word abel's deal is "nothing or have it all." that is why God loved abel more fro his resolve to compelte the work with no short cut deal--

Now imagine the first kiss of lion and deer from the perspective of either Abel or Can and then start writing a five page treatise on the matter --single space and typed.

"reyazat kesh ra be badami besazad"


Ryszard Antolak

Vision

by Ryszard Antolak on

Hassan,

I'm stunned and sadened by this vision of yours.

But thank you for the beautiful photograph of the deer.

Ryszard


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Love of Evolving

by A Hassan Danesh, Sociologist (not verified) on

Had Cain done some more leg work to turn some of his grapes harvest to wine (food evolution), God would have accepted him as equal of Abel as well...for animals are the transformed vegetables in motion in disguise ready to be devoured by the hungry lion who are in principle vegterain par excellence (Dear Deer is itself vegetable after some hard work of chewing & distillation, and transformation)...

Lazy lazy cain@


Ryszard Antolak

Love of Abel

by Ryszard Antolak on

It has long puzzled me that God should choose Abel's gifts rather than Cain's: prefer the carnivore to the vegetarian.