Fruit and Sheep

A Poem about Cain and Abel

What if the fruit of his labor
wasn't cabbages or pears?
What if the fruit of his labor
was his striving and wishing
to be good enough
to appease the angry God—
for God to say, "With you I'm satisfied."

What if God's disregard for Cain's sacrifice
was God saying, "I can't delight in any work of your hands"?

And Cain felt it
as I do every day,
the pres…