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The world is a stage and I'm God's favorite clown. The heavens cheer for an encore and I'm revived once more.
I have this one scenario that brings Cain to respect Samson more than just some unpaid "bodyguard." I just can't freaking draw it for the life of me. So, have some stuff I drew and have my intentions/the context under the cut. Bazinga.
Eve catches wind of possible treasures that, of course, attract Cain's attention, so she gives them the coordinates and let's them do their thing. Cain and Samson are lured into a cave where they are ambushed by 30-ish drug cartel members because Mr. Cain just loves money, mischief, and manipulation. Before they could even react, Cain is shot multiple times and collapses to the floor. Samson was shot too, but remains standing looking down at Cain. The men taunt Samson for being a poor bodyguard and shoot at him again. Samson is unfazed as he walks over to one of the stalagmites. The men are at a loss, why does it seem like the bullets do nothing? Samson grabs the tip of the stalagmite and kicks at the base, detaching the thing from the floor. The men are intimidated, realizing what is going to happen next.
It's clubbin' time. *beats you to death* *beats you to death* *beats you death* x30
It's a gosh dang mess. Bludgeoned. Crushed. Impaled. Minced. Just blood all over the place. A normal Thursday afternoon for Samson. And a normal episode of Samson goes Bananas broadcasted on Angel TV.
When it seems they're all dead, Samson calms down. It's quiet now. Except for a quiet moan. How unlikely, someone alive after his rampage? He turns around and is absolutely dumbfounded. Cain's lying on the ground rubbing his head like he's hungover. He pushes himself up and looks around. Bodies strewn about and Samson in the middle of it all covered in blood. All of their blood.
"Cain? You're Alive?"
Cain looks at himself now. He's covered in blood too. His own blood.
"Oh. Haha yeah. You see. I can't die. I'm not allowed to die. GOD WON'T LET ME DIE!"
Cain has his spontaneous old man meltdown while Samson just watches. It's a lot to take in and it's a lot to let out. Cain gasps for air and the angels laugh out loud. Humanity is hilarious. Mortality is amusing.
Samson kneels down in front of Cain, placing a hand on his shoulder, mirroring the gesture of when they first met.
"I know I'm here to protect you, but can I promise you this? With all my strength, not only will I keep you safe, but I will also be the one who kills you."
The angels' laughter stops.
Cain chuckles.
"I hope you do."
And then they kiss. No they don't. But wouldn't that be pretty gay? Nah, they leave the cave and go back to their car that's parked a mile or so deep into the forest.
Samson gets in first. Cain has to make a quick phone call to his dear friend, Eve.
Cain hangs up and sits in the car, as well. It's quiet now.
Then Samson starts snoring.
Unbelievable.
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You know me, I like to have a bit of drama sprinkled in my shit posting just for continuity and like a basis to go off of.
Eve was one of Cain's blood donation "whores," but Samson is here now, so she's relaxing and just gathering information. She usually cleans up the messes Cain leaves behind. Evidence, bodies, or just looting. (I have an example of a mess she cleans up, but that's backstory I might get to.)
Cain will try any and every method to bring in more money, maybe robbing banks, maybe treasure hunting, maybe working a lemonade stand. OH MY GOD, Jacob and Esau running a lemonade stand for Cain that's freaking so stupid. Cain mostly is a loan shark, but he dabbles in the black market with stolen goods and stolen guts.
Samson has some debt with Cain he is repaying by being his "bodyguard." Sending Bethany to stupid fancy Christian academy is expensive. Assisting Cain on excursions, breaking traps, or helping collect pay from certain folks. Samson and Bethany get to sleep at Cain's hideout, but shhh no one can know where it is. Bethany, why did you bring Lazarus here. Gosh dangit.
The practically immortality comes from Cain's Curse "bestowed" on him by God for killing his brother, Abel. (Of which I do have sketched, but that's a mess Eve will have to clean up too.) No harm can come to Cain and those who harm him get returned to them sevenfold. So, if Cain is stabbed, the person would be wrung like a wet towel and slapped across the asscheeks of an elephant and laid down to be trampled on by said elephant.
That's what I got so far. Have Samson all bloodied up close and personal cause gosh dangit I did good on the blood. Love you guys!
Have a good and cringey freaking day.
#no one can harm cain and if they do its returned sevenfold#the dealer of comeuppance is named samson#the binding of isaac#tboi#tboi gabriel#tboi cain#tboi uriel#tboi dogma#tboi samson#comic#blood#blood tw#suicide mention#suicide tw#inktober#Brothers Keeper AU
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The original House of Mystery (for Sandman fans)
What is the House of Mystery? Or A History of The House of Mystery!
Everything you need to know lies below...
The original House of Mystery comic books were a horror anthology series published by DC. Cain The Caretaker didn’t make his first appearance until issue 175 for the issue “The Gift of Doom.” (Sounds like an Invader Zim episode title, doesn’t it?)
Cain was the caretaker for a strange and spooky old house, VERY similar to the one you see in the opening credits of Tales from the Crypt TV series from 1989.
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Notice how Morpheus describes The House of Mystery when he wakes up there in issue 2 of Sandman, after fainting at Cain and Abel’s feet upon his return from seventy-two-years captivity.
Each issue of the original House of Mystery comics contained one to three short (one-shot) scary stories told to us by the ghoulish and pun-loving narrator, Cain. Since the stories were usually stand-alone stories that means you could read them in any order. So if you want to skip straight to issue 175 to meet Cain, you won’t be lost if you choose to that.
The House of Mystery began as a supernatural horror anthology but that temporarily changed in the 1950s into the early to mid-60s.
During the comic book persecution and censorship era of the 1950s (which killed EC comics) DC tried to make House of Mystery more a crime drama comic or science fiction short stories and avoided the supernatural. But the arrival of Cain in issue 175 signaled the end of all that tiptoeing around the comics code. Cain brought the spooky, supernatural horror with him, back from the proverbial grave.
This is why it’s important The House of Mystery’s roots should not be forgotten. Cain’s very existence was an “F--- You” from editor, Joe Orlando, and directed toward the ham-handed censorship and prohibition against supernatural horror (That the general public somehow seemed to think was the cause of all their ills). For modern writers and game developers to downplay the supernatural horror attached to The House of Mystery and to diminish it in New 52 and in DC Universe online MMORPG is a sin against comic book history.
For a while in the 1960s into the early 80s The House of Mystery was DC’s answer to EC’s Tales from the Crypt. While EC had The Crypt Keeper, Vault Keeper, and Old Witch, DC had it’s knock offs own versions in Cain, Abel, and Mordred AKA The Crone from The Witching Hour (or sometimes Eve).
Nope! No similarities here!
Note: I don’t care if they’re a rip-off. I love them both.
Despite serving the same purpose as The Crypt Keeper, Cain was physically modeled after Len Wein. Both Cain and Abel were physically modeled after real DC writers. But their purposes were strikingly similar to the EC characters.
Len Wein even posed as Cain for a DC staff Halloween party.
Where Vault Keeper got his own spin-off with Vault of Horror, Abel got his own spin-off from The House of Mystery with The House of Secrets.
Cain was so much like The Crypt Keeper that both would say similar phrases such as “Pleasant Screams!” or “Pleasant Nightmares!” and “Greetings, Boils and Ghouls!” They both loved their horror related puns.
EC’s characters of the Crypt Keeper, Vault Keeper, and Old Witch only appeared together in media outside of the comics for the entire second season of the animated Tales from the Crypt Keeper horror anthology cartoon series that ran from 1993 until 1999.
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EC comics fell victim to the mid-50s comic book witch hunts where comic books were blamed for all things from juvenile delinquency to mental illness and violent street crime. EC collapsed but its legacy would live on. Tales from the Crypt would get movies and a popular HBO TV series in the late 1980s, followed by a three season animated series that would run until 1999.
The House of Mystery comics spawned their own legacy. DC attempted several other horror anthology spin-offs including The Witching Hour and Tales of Ghost Castle. The Witching Hour was hosted by three witches who represented the traditional Mother, Maidan, and Crone trinity. Sandman fans will recognize them as the Hecatae. Tales of Ghost Castle was hosted by a certain Lucien, The Librarian.
Lucien’s come such a long way from his humble roots that you might not recognize him now in his current form.
A more dapper suit of clothes and better hairline.
In the early eighties it seemed like the horror anthology comics were a dying genre but Alan Moore kept Cain and Abel in use for Swamp Thing. Swamp Thing began as a story told in Abel’s House of Secrets after all. (issue 92).
The House of Mystery is where many DC properties can find their roots. The House of Secrets was a spin-off of The House of Mystery. Swamp Thing was a spin-off of The House of Secrets. I, Vampire (the stories of Andrew Bennett) came from The House of Mystery. Constantine, by extension, began as a Swamp Thing character. This is also true of Matthew The Raven who began as the human Matthew Cable in Swamp Thing.
For a few years in the early 80s Elvira: Mistress of The Dark took over hosting The House of Mystery and took many jabs at poor Cain.
And ultimately all these horror hosts from The House of Mystery and the other DC anthologies found their way to... Sandman.
The House of Mystery gained editor Karen Berger at issue 292 in 1981. She would more or less single-handedly run DC’s horror line into the 1980s. Karen Berger was the editor for Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman and later founder of the Vertigo imprint.
She also once bribed Cain with cookies!
(Fourth wall? What fourth wall?)
In issue 2 of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman we get “Imperfect Hosts.”
The title is a pun on the fact that not only was Morpheus a guest convalescing in the House of Mystery with Cain and Abel doting upon him but virtually every character in the issue (other than The Sandman, Morpheus AKA Dream of The Endless, himself,) were former horror host characters. Let’s count them.
Cain = House of Mystery Cain’s Gargoyle, Gregory = House of Mystery Abel = House of Secrets Eve (AKA The Raven Woman) = Secrets of Sinister House. (Note: Eve can change her form at will to look like a Maiden, Mother, or Crone. Lucien The Librarian = Tales of Ghost Castle (Turns out that was Morpheus’ castle all along! Don’t you just love retroactive continuity?) Note: Lucien had a love of werewolves and a pet werewolf named Rover.
This is paid homage to in the werewolf issue of Sandman, issue 38.)
The Mad Mod Witch (AKA The Fashion Thing) = The Unexpected
Destiny = (Neil Gaiman added the “of The Endless” and gave him a family) = Weird Mystery Tales
The Three Witches (AKA The Hecatae / The Fates / The Kindly Ones - The Furies) = The Witching Hour
Bonus mention: Judge Gallows = The Unexpected. Neil Gaiman never used Judge Gallows but both versions of The Dreaming spin-off have a version of Judge Gallows. (I am NOT a fan of Judge Gallows.)
Thanks to Sandman, Cain and Abel (as well as many of the other horror hosts) were now established as being loyal subjects of the Dream Lord, Morpheus, and their houses (which could appear anywhere in the world) had their roots in the realm of dreams (known as The Dreaming.)
Cain’s own existence in The Dreaming (Realm of Dreams) could be taken as a pun since the Judeo-Christian Cain was supposed to have been banished (or wandered) to The Land of Nod. In children's’ literature The Land of Nod is an old term for “The land of Dreams”.
Whether Cain is the literal Judeo-Christian Cain, or just a dream-entity created from the collective unconscious idea of who Cain should be, is left ambiguous even though Lucifer, in Sandman, respects Cain’s mark as if it definitely is the real mark of Cain. It could even signify the importance of symbolism and belief that it would be respected even if he was just the collective idea of Cain.
Lucifer is also, apparently, one of the only things that can frighten Cain.
In Judeo-Christian lore Cain and Abel were the sons of Adam and Eve. Abel made an offering to God of a slaughtered lamb. God was pleased. Cain made an offering of fruits and vegetables he had grown. God showed no interest. In jealousy Cain murdered his brother by bashing his head with a rock. A version of this tale is told in Sandman issue 40, The Parliament of Rooks.
When God asked Cain where his brother was he replied “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Though a more accurate translation of the scene had God ask where the sheep keeper was and Cain replied with something like “Do I look like a brother keeper?” Cain was banished for his crime and given a mark that was to serve as protection that others were not allowed to do him harm lest they be punished sevenfold.
In modern lore this has been used to indicate he was also cursed with immortality. A nod to this comes up in Sandman issue 67 during Sandman: The Kindly Ones.
The TV show Lucifer followed an overly simplified version of this lore borrowed from the show Supernatural and its version of Cain the mark just meant he was immortal and served no other purpose. The version of Cain in the Lucifer TV series was very, very different from the version who hosted The House of Mystery and would regularly appear in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman.
In Sandman Cain does have a compulsion to habitually kill his brother fairly regularly. Since they are both immortal beings Abel usually recovers.
The Aunts in Netflix’s version of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina are modeled after Cain and Abel as they were depicted in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman.
The use of Cain, Abel, and Eve in Sandman could also be seen as a nod to George McDonald’s novel, LIlith, which also entailed a mysterious and ghostly “librarian” known as Mr. Raven and a surreal fantasy world. It’s been told that Lucien was Morpheus’ first raven. And some believe he may be Adam the way Mr. Raven was Adam in Lilith.
Not only did Neil Gaiman salvage nearly all of the old horror hosts who were falling into obscurity after Crisis of Infinite Earths (DC’s first major reboot) but he made these old horror hosts important characters within Sandman lore as either being servants of or (in the case of Destiny) relations of the main protagonist.
Neil Gaiman, in a way, saved their lives in preserving them as fixtures of DC canon in a now beloved “ever-green” story that is Sandman.
The Sandman issue Imperfect Hosts (which can be found in the graphic novel The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes) is a treasure trove issue for lovers of old school horror comics. There are even subtle nods to the artwork of the late Bernie Wrightson (A favorite of mine).
Imperfect Hosts also gave us Abel’s adorable baby gargoyle, Goldie.
Goldie was named after Abel’s “imaginary friend” that Abel and sometimes Cain would tell stories to. She was very likely not imaginary at all but real and a ghost who was haunting The House of Secrets.
It is said this cover is depicting the original Goldie.
In the original House of Mystery comics Cain would sometimes torment his brother. It wasn’t quite as brutal as it got in Sandman. And Cain had a soft spot for children, reveling in stories where those who mistreat children get their comeuppance. (Side note: I wonder what became of Cain’s pet cat, Oskar / Oscar. Cain still has his gargoyle but not his black cat.)
Thanks to a repeated running gag that was featured in (and outside of) Sandman,, which carried over into the 2008 House of Mystery volume 2, we can safely assume Cain’s voice is a great deal LOT like Vincent Price.
Cain and Abel appeared in some of the Sandman spin-off comics of the late 90s and early 2000s but those have since been de-canonized (no longer acknowledged as having happened).
During New 52, DC higher ups decided that they loved the concept of The House of Mystery. This was during a spike in Doctor Who’s popularity in the US. They saw The House of Mystery as a mysterious old house that is apparently bigger on the inside and can appear virtually anywhere and latched on to this TARDIS-esque aspect of it (as that is the nature of The Doctor’s ship, The TARDIS, in Doctor Who). But they seemed to have no love for Cain the caretaker or The House of Mystery’s spooky ambiance... The House of Mystery became the base of operation for Justice League Dark, and home of Constantine and Zatanna.
Cain the Caretaker was nowhere to be found but a new Cain, the supposed “real” Cain and “Sire of all vampires” became the main antagonist of the 2012 reboot attempt at I, Vampire... (it only ran for twelve issues and if not for DC Universe Online MMORPG name dropping him, that vampire version would probably mercifully be forgotten by now.) I usually like vampires in fiction but I hated this.
At one point those who were unhappy with the New 52 changes to The House of Mystery were told “Oh, this is a different House of Mystery from the one in The Dreaming. There are multiple Houses of Mystery.” but readers were, needless to say, skeptical, especially considering Cain’s pet gargoyle, Gregory, was IN the House of Mystery that was being used for Justice League: Dark in New 52! Did Gregory just randomly wander into the wrong House of Mystery?! No! Because we were told he “came with the house.” That means it IS Cain’s House of Mystery. Nice try to save your asses there, DC.
DC, through their Vertigo imprint, tried to placate fans of the original Cain and Abel and House of Mystery by having Cain and Abel appear briefly in the 2016 Lucifer comics (Now no longer canon) with their own House of Mystery and House of Secrets in the realm of The Dreaming but this only served to confuse readers further...
Especially since, at the time, Hellblazer was referencing a very different Lucifer (New 52-ified and based on the old and generic idea of The Devil) and a very different Cain.
Finally Scott Snyder decided to fix things. Scott Snyder discretely brought Cain and Abel with The House of Secrets and House of Mystery (as well as all of Sandman lore) back to mainstream DC continuity during the event known as Dark Nights: Metal.
That’s Cain in the bottom left. And that’s Abel in the upper right. Separated so Cain cannot commit casual and compulsive fratricide (Abel always recovers) during the meeting of the immortals.
In late 2016 Cain The Caretaker made his very first appearance in television animation. He appeared in the show Justice League: Action for the episode Trick or Threat. The episode merged the classic Cain’s House of Mystery with the continuity of Constantine owning the House from New 52 by having Cain giving Constantine a key to The House of Mystery by the end of the episode. Letting Cain essentially be Constantine’s roommate / landlord, It was a fair compromise of merging the lore. And it was done expertly by the great Paul Dini, with love and respect for both The House of Mystery and Sandman.
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In February of 2017 The House of Mystery would also appear in the direct-to-video animated movie Justice League: Dark. Though a decent animated feature, unfortunately this was the version from New 52 so no sign of Cain and the house was a little less... spooky.
The downplaying of the Gothic ambiance of The House of Mystery is a crime against the history of this comic and what it stood for in the 60s when it was used an act of spooky rebellion against the comics code and irrational persecution and censorship. It was an act of defiance that should be allowed to stand.
Abel’s House of Secrets made a brief appearance in an episode of Young Justice as a magick shoppe. It was likely the last thing a little girl ghost saw before she died as her spirit seemed only able to utter the word “Secret.” (Secret is a heavily modified ghostly character from DC comics.)
In 2019 the Justice League: Dark event was added to DC Universe online MMORPG. And though the game has Dark Nights: Metal content the game is more heavily based on DC’s New 52 so the House of Mystery in The Justice League: Dark raids does not have Cain The Caretaker and it looks more like the Plaza Hotel in Home Alone 2 rather than anything truly gothic or spooky...
It was very disappointing to me.
In 2018 Cain, Abel, and The House of Mystery and House of Secrets yet again became regular entities in DC comics with the Sandman Universe comics. The House of Mystery is back to being a creepy old haunted house with a small graveyard separating it from it’s companion, The House of Secrets. Both are still kept by Cain and Abel respectively within the realm of The Dreaming.
May The House of Mystery always revert to the spooky old house where Cain will tell spooky stories to frighten his guests!
#Neil Gaiman#Karen Berger#The House of Mystery#DC Comics#Vertigo Comics#Cain The Caretaker#The Sandman#Neil Gaiman's The Sandman#Horror Comics
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I Am Cain
I am Cain, the firstborn son of man, Inheritor of all my parents grew: The seed they planted as the world began, By what they plucked and ate and chose to do. Cast, cursed from Eden, they had cast away That part of heaven which had been my due; Swapped garden’s evening rest, for toil by day, To dig the earth and sow and tend and reap; I raised my harvest from a lesser clay.
My little brother Abel sat by sheep: He let them wander, gambol, bleat and graze, Then slaughtered them to earn his bloody keep.
“Now come, my brother, let us offer praise To Him who cast us out, and let us see If sacrifice of labour gives us ways To fathom His forgiveness and be free; So give of yours, and I shall give of mine Together we'll reverse his curse-decree.”
I took to tending root and crop and vine, I ground the corn to turn it into bread, I crushed the fruit to turn it into wine, I raised my harvest to a mighty spread Of every plant He put for food on Earth, A feast which would be fit to turn His head. I raised my voice to Him who cursed my birth, To honour all the labour on display, To grant my work was of sufficient worth To win his favour back, or somehow pay For birthright that belonged to me and that My parents had so rashly cast away.
Then Abel came before the Lord and sat. He let a prayer of praise to heaven rise, Then killed a lamb, and offered meat and fat.
A voice of heaven's thunder split the skies, To bless my brother’s offering and prayer, But no word came in answer to my cries, No fair exchange to match my offered fare. I'd hoped that I would gain my reckoning, But disregard was all that I found there.
For God said only this: “Your offering, Is weighed, my son, and it has fallen short. The fault lies not with what you chose to bring, But in the way in which your gift was brought: And in your angry heart and mind which sought To force the hand of God, to bend my will, To give you that which only leads to ill. But Abel gave his gift with open hand, Returning that to Him by whom it grew, So I shall bless his life, his line, his land. And if you bring your offering anew, With humble heart, I'll do the same for you, Or simply do what's right and that will be A sacrifice acceptable to me.”
The words of God fell silent like the grain, Which scatters lifeless onto barren ground: As I returned to tend my fields again My mind reverberated with one sound: “You’ve fallen short; your gift is not enough.” These words within me echoed round and round, “You’ve fallen short; your gift is not enough.” My brother stole my blessing with blood shed, “You’ve fallen short; your gift is not enough.” The way back into Eden’s stained with red, “You’ve fallen short; your gift is not enough.” For God exchanges love for precious dead, “You’ve fallen short; your gift is not enough.” I brought my best, but He would only say, “You’ve fallen short; your gift is not enough.” And so with precious Abel’s blood I'll pay, With Abel’s blood, with Abel’s precious blood, I'll make a sacrifice to stain the way, With Abel’s blood, with Abel’s precious blood, And make Him speak the words I long to hear: "This is enough,” with Abel’s precious blood.
“Now come, my brother, let's again draw near To offer up the best of you and me: If we might be more humble, more sincere, He'll give consideration to our plea, He'll open Eden’s gate to us again: And from our parent's curse grant clemency.”
The fields were heavy with the harvest grain, Each stalk stood silent by and bowed its head, The light and heat of day began to wane: Long shadows stretched behind us as I led My brother to the place of sacrifice. And still I was consumed by what He’d said: “Your gift is not enough to pay the price,” So as my brother bent his head to pray, I struck him dead to earn my paradise.
And when I close my eyes I see the way He knelt so innocent and unaware, And smell the bitterness of bloody spray; I nightly hear his cry which split the air, And still can scarcely raise my heavy hand, For phantom rock which it won’t cease to bear.
The night drew in but I could only stand, For I was chilled beyond the midnight cold: The instant that I’d struck as I had planned, The madness in my mind had loosed its hold. The land was drained of colour by the gloom, Which hid the red of blood on harvest-gold, And in the dark, I made my limbs resume Their work, despite my guilt-numbed heart and mind. I dug a pit to be his unmarked tomb, Where only death and worms and rot would find; I buried crops, the rock, the dirt and all His blood had stained, and left them far behind. I stole away, and hoped fate would forestall The reckoning I knew could not be fled. But evening came before I heard His call, The voice of heaven’s thunder overhead. I heard him call for Abel, and again, And thrice He called my brother’s name, then said:
“I cannot find where Abel’s resting, Cain, It’s time his flocks were gathered for the night, But they are scattered all across the plain, I’ve sought him in the deep and on the height; And somehow he has wandered from my sight. If he’s asleep it’s time for him to rise: But I can’t find the place your brother lies.”
I said, “I’m sure you’ll find him with his sheep. But why am I to know where he’d be found? My brother’s life is not for me to keep.”
But He said, “I can hear a dreadful sound: A hollow voice which cries, ‘My brother’s hand’; It’s Abel’s blood which calls from underground, A curse on you and all who work the land. I hear it still, but scarcely understand. I cannot bear this awful truth, my son. Oh Cain, what have you done? What have you done? For even now your brother’s blood runs deep, And poisons every part of Earth below: There are no harvests, now, for you to reap, For nothing more than strangled weeds will grow, No matter how you toil, till and sow. Instead, your fruit forevermore shall be To bear your sin and wander ceaselessly.”
At this, I threw myself upon my face, And pleaded that the curse might turn away, Unworthily, I begged for unearned grace, And promised ever hence that I’d obey, And humbly work my land and livelihood, From then until my final resting day. For I had heard His words and understood That just as in my madness I’d believed By sacrifice of Abel’s blood I could Have purged my parent’s sin and be received To dwell in Eden as my father’s heir, So other minds may likewise be deceived That ending me may also end despair.
“My God, although I know my sin’s severe, This punishment is more than I can bear. I only sought to feel your presence near, So do not cast me further from your side. For if you turn your face from me, I fear That my destruction’s close at hand,” I cried, And fell once more to weeping on the floor, Devoid of hope, until the Lord replied:
“The deed is done, the sin was yours alone, The punishment shall be as I have said. But Abel’s fate shall not become your own, For I shall place my mark upon your head, So all will know that if they strike you dead, Then they shall bear my vengeance sevenfold, And neither be forgiven, nor consoled.”
At that the skies fell silent and I knew That never more I'd hear the voice of God; I left my barren fields where nothing grew, And built a city in the land of Nod. Where I have lived beyond my years to see, How others use religion as a rod, To harm the ones with whom they disagree To try to win a share of heaven’s joy, Repeating all the evil born in me.
It lives in every heart which would destroy Another’s life to save them from their sin; In every king who chooses to deploy Their holy troops in holy lands to win By sword and fire the souls of conquered foes, And all the other wealth which lies within; In each who claims life’s sacred, and who shows It burning agents and facilities, Who do the things they think God must oppose; In each who’d rather set civilities, Above the needs of those who need defence From evil’s violent hostilities; In every judge who chooses to dispense The justice of an eye exchanged for eye; In each who say it’s simply commonsense Another human being has to die; In each who thinks theirs is God’s favoured race, And seeks to purge and cleanse and purify; In all who put another far from grace; In each crusade; in every terror cell: In every one of these I see my face.
I wear the likeness of my parents well: The heir of both my father and my mother, I found and paved a highway into hell.
For I am Cain and I have killed my brother: The firstborn damned of all who kills another.
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