My Brother's Blood

Danya Ruttenberg posted this to Twitter tonight after hearing about the grand jury's decision tonight not to indict Darren Wilson for the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson.

"God said, 'What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground.'" Gen. 4:10 #Ferguson #BlackLivesMatter
— Rav Danya Ruttenberg (@TheRaDR) November 25, 2014

This is a poem I wrote in 1993:

My brother’s blood 

My brother’s blood calls from the ground
and earth will swallow him up. 

God called to Cain: Where is Abel your brother?
Cain said to God: your earth will take him,
he is like the rebels who followed Korach;
their fate is to lie in the earth,
buried alive and not dying.
God called to Cain: You are cursed from the ground which gaped open its mouth to take the blood of your brother Abel.
Cain said to God: And your people, O God, your people?  They are scattered over the face of the earth and we pursue them to their deaths.  Do not speak to me of curses.
God called to Cain: The shedder of human blood, by humans his blood will be shed.
For humans are made in the image of God.
Cain said to God: We have shattered the image like so much broken glass on the city street. 

I cradle my brother’s head in my arms
his blood has soaked into the ground and he lies still.
Where is your image O God on this earth? 

December 28, 1993