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ANCIENT HISTORY by SIEGFRIED SASSOON

Poet Analysis

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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