The Land of Nod

Growing up, I barely knew the Bible, but read and reread the part when Cain drifted east or was drawn that way, into a place of desolation, the land of Nod, there to begin, with a wife of unknown origin, another race of men, under the mark of God. As a boy, I thought Nod would be a place where the blue scillas would bloom gray, a country of the rack and screw, the serrated sword, where the very serving cups were bone. As a grown man, I’ve heard that Nod never was a nation—of Cain’s offspring, or anyone— but a mistranslation of “wander,” so Cain could go wherever, and be in Nod. Far more than in God, I believe in Cain, who destroyed his own brother, and therefore in any city could have his wish, and be alone.