Nancy Scott McBride’s most recent poem to appear here was “Progeny” (June 2017)

Cain
By Nancy Scott McBride

When I first saw you,
right after you were born,
and you flushed from gray to red
with your first breath,
when you were held up for me to behold your
angry squalling grief-stricken maleness,
when they laid you across my shriveled belly
and I covered you with my hand,
shielding you from the light, the noise, the chilly air,
I foresaw, all of an instant, that in spite of
your great strength and beauty,
you possessed an inner frailty that would
lead you to attack your brother,
sass your father,
and demand of me—
though my love for you exceeded all others—
more than I had to give.