A brief analysis of a poem BY JOSEPH SOBOKA
As scheme was designed for behavioral label
Animosity sprang up between Cain and Abel.
The innocence of Abel portrays surrender
He yielded to the untainted selfless offer.
He offered the sacrifice in meekness and contrite
And this caused him damnation and plight.
All that he did was spiritual offense
Cain had no legal ground to justify in defense.
Responding to divine enquiry ever
He retorted, “Am I my brother’s keeper”.
The spilt blood of Abel did loudly cry
Seeking justice from God, who lives on high.
Cain’s deed augments the human greed
That defiantly deters the agape love creed.
Cain was on his high horse, his creator not to adore
Human demeanor it was, no less and no more.
Such malefaction spreads from door-to-door
It continues on large scale from shore-to-shore.
The spoil of hatred delivered at human’s worst time
The sting of cruelty supplants character sublime.
Cain’s legacy, cyber music warfare through mainstream
It orchestrated the rich and the poor, in unison to scream.
Vociferously rage racism, ethnicity and cross-border aggressions
It’s reinforced by marine attacks, air raids and landmine explosions.
Scared are the innocent as modern Cainism devours them
Vanished are their branches and their life-sustaining stem.
Irrational viciousness rooted in barbarism
Millions are consumed by its heinous terrorism.
Terrorism, anti-terrorism, all global sham
People for no avail at each other, they slam.
To stop the demagogue, all nations least bother
They are at loggerheads turning at each other.
Cainlaunches devastation from its fortress
Least regards the bitter and the fatal consequence.
Denouncing brutish Cain, in support of innocent Abel
Let’s unite,lest Cain rings the dooming final bell.
This poem above depicts the general cruelty that lie hidden under the skin of all human beings. The skin-deep politeness covers up the animosity that spring out only when things slightly move away from the seemingly civilized dispositions. Such human behavior has been there since creation. But the magnitude has so much grown that it has become a harsh reality that cannot be confidently reckoned with. The situation springs out of two brothers, in which evil is so augmented to be blown out of proportion and to permeate into the human race through thousands of years causing co-existence among races and peoples of the world rather impossible.
The root causes in most cases are jealousy, selfishness, envy and misunderstanding and the like for which lasting solution is totally unattainable despite human relentless efforts. Man’s desire to stamp out this utter viciousness by designing various possible means has remained only a dream. Local and international institutions have been organized; traditional approaches and psychiatric facilities always battle to make an end to such human atrocities.
Yet, animosity has been let loose on mankind more than ever to make life irredeemably and irreparably bitter and agonizing. Care and sympathy for one another seem to blow up into thin air far more than ever.
Virtues and vices glare at each other through the antagonistic deeds of Abel and Cain. Thus, the path of Cane leads to wrath and eternal damnation while that of Abel’s to glory and eternal blessing.
The Ethiopian Herald March 23/2021
