Open the Ground

The raven taught us how to open the ground and feed it what it grew
But all the while as we buried your brother I was thinking of you
Where would you wander and would you ever stay
And could I have taught you some other way

The pain was so terrible I thought I was dying I thought I would split in two
But a sound came from me and I opened wide and then, there was you
I didn’t want to tame you I loved you as you were
If I’d had a mother maybe I’d have learned from her

Will some woman love you in that faraway place
For the strength in your hands and the mark on your face
Seven times seven how much is it worth
Flaxseed and blood, all the fruit of the earth.

What did you say out in the field that day and how did he answer you
You always were convinced you were somehow less than him though I told you it wasn’t true

And who is counted lucky the living or the dead
When sin is always crouching just ahead?

Eve was the first mother and had to make it up as she went along. I imagine she never stopped loving her first child even after burying her second (Genesis 4).