Poem: Genesis 4:8

how still how pale he lies there
Abel on the delicious young soil
he’ll never know
he’s but the first
the crimson weave of wrath and longing
his brother wore
will entangle untold others
all kin every single one
to those flung onto the hungry soil

only his brother’s mark
will disappear

From “The Lord Has a Taste for Clowning,” Skirball Cultural Center (2003)

Rabbi Stanley Chyet (1931-2002) was professor emeritus of American Jewish history at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and assistant to the president and secretary to the board of trustees of the Skirball Cultural Center.