Cain

From the beginning,
he was willful and always
wanting more.

Gardener that I am,
I hoped to train his nature
toward stubborn love of God
and desire for growing good.

At first, it seemed to take—
his arguments with Abel ended.
He worked the land, married well,
made outward offerings to the Lord.

But something inside was amiss,
something no mother imagines
when she gazes into newborn eyes
and heaven binds her heart
with love’s first green tendrils.

I thought I’d learned all about hard
choices and the sorrow 
consequence
can deliver, but now

I am as God—
good and evil offer
boughs of heavy fruit
to every hungry heart.

Merrijane Rice is a wife, mom, Latter-day Saint, poet, and editor. She published her first poetry collection Messages on the Water in 2017, and her second book Grace Like Water with the help of Mormon Lit Lab in 2020.