Cain

"Behold, I will wander far away, I will lodge in the desert -David the shepherd/king (Psalm 55)

Today I live on the dark side of the moon, the backside of the desert. It has occured to me that Cain was an exile of exiles. His parents of course had perfected the art of exile, they held the patent on that one. The text tells us that when Adam and Eve fled, they went "east of Eden." How much further then was Cain sent? I say, "sent" because he was banished from the community.

I am a marked man. Why God ever made me love community I will never understand. Didn't he realize I had always been content to be on my own? I was not one to need people. And then he made me love them. They have been disappointing me ever since. Well, most it would seem. But now, I have retired to my hovel in the desert. Old haunts which brought back fond memories are now places of decadence and decay. Like a portion of the desert lost to suburbia. Abusers and users now own the property. They have no thought for the "Land." Their intent is to only exploit it for their own polluted purposes. Like some old hunting grounds someone else has come along and bought up all the land. Posted signs now dot the landscape.

Some legends say there are restless spirits which wander the earth like homeless beggars. No wonder "legion" requested to be cast into a pack of pigs. How we seek to avert exile. But at what price? I have often wondered if it has already cost too much. No doubt I have thrown in my thirty cents worth. I have danced with the devil and he has led me straight to hell. Such is the price for hoaring around. Perhaps I will find solace in the desert, not all the sacred places have been torn down. Sola, WHB