Africa Speaks Reasoning Forum

Sit a while
and listen.
Let me tell the story
of blood and sweat.

*So begun an elder's tale,
atop a cold hill on Africa's plains
there we sat
as the meal was prepared
and the sun sunk west.*

A man had a son
and the son a brother,
and both sought to find the love of the father
So one took a field
all bushes and weed
and three moons he took to clear
the green

three still to break the soil
beneath
he learnt the earth took time to breathe
so water he gave his new friend to drink
and seed of fruit for the dirt to eat.

The lamb was for the other
the son the dreamer
he learnt in days the use of fire
so he took from the wild
that which he had not
and when he was done the remains would rot.

Not a moon
did it take him to tame his sheep
and the spirit of the horse
he broke with a whip.

Now time came to pass
and as she passed
she saw both brothers upon a plain

the one had his eyes to the ground
for under his feet
he found his gift
that he nurtured the soil with drink and food
the soil returned to him with fruit

the other had his eyes to the sky
beneath the tree-shade
*so the elder said*
his sheep were fat and horses tame
and in the field of his brother grazed.

So each to his father
an offering made
*but this part of the story you have probably read*
and that is the story
of blood and sweat.


**ps. which son are you?  

Kain and Abel

yet now i see that one must be as both. a keeper. the fruits of the cane and the devotion of our abillities.
the exercise of charity is at the harmony of work and prayer; and as we have been given, so we freely give;

i see that it is here, accepting that the Lord's own choosing pleases us also, that the chains of knowledge withdraw, a fiery sword is stilled, and into the Garden of the Lord's keep we can return