| Let us descend now, therefore, from
this top |
| Of speculation, for the hour precise |
| Exacts our parting hence; and see, the
guards, |
| By me encamped on yonder hill, expect |
| Their motion, at whose front a flaming
sword, |
| In signal of remove, waves fiercely
round ; |
| We may no longer stay : go, waken Eve ; |
| Her also I with gentle dreams have
calmed, |
| Portending good, and all her spirits
composed |
| To meek submission : thou at season fit |
| Let her with thee partake what thou
hast heard, |
| Chiefly what may concern her faith to
know, |
| The great deliverance by her seed to
come, |
| For by the Woman’s Seed, on all mankind
; |
| That ye may live, which will be many
days, |
| Both in one faith unanimous, though
sad, |
| With cause, for evils past ; yet much
more cheered |
| With meditation on the happy end." |
| He ended, and they both descend
the hill : |
| Descended, Adam to the bower, where Eve |
| Lay sleeping, ran before, but found her
waked ; |
| And thus with words not sad she him
received ; |
| " Whence thou return’st, and whither
went’st, I know |
| For GOD is also in sleep, and dreams
advise, |
| Which He hath sent propitious, some
great good |
| Presaging, since with sorrow and
heart’s distress |
| Wearied I fell asleep : but now lead on
; |
| In me is no delay ; with thee to go |
| Is to stay here ; without thee here to
stay |
| Is to go hence unwilling ; thou to me |
| Art all things under heav’n, all places
thou, |
| Who for my wilful crime art banished
hence. |
| This further consolation yet secure |
| I carry hence : though all by me is
lost, |
| Such favour I unworthy am vouchsafed, |
| By me the Promised Seed shall all
restore.’ |
| So spake our mother Eve, and
Adam heard |
| Well pleased, but answered not ; for
now too nigh |
| Th’ Archangel stood, and from the other
hill |
| To their fixed station all in bright
array |
| The Cherubim descended ; on the ground |
| Gliding meteorous, as ev’ning mist |
| Ris’n from a river o’er the marish
glides, |
| And gathers ground fast at the
labourer’s heel |
| Homeward returning. High in front
advanced, |
| The brandished sword of GOD before them
blazed |
| Fierce as a comet ; which with torrid
heat, |
| And vapour as the Libyan air adust, |
| Began to parch that temperate clime :
whereat |
| In either hand th’ hast’ning angel
caught |
| Our ling’ring parents, and to the
eastern gate |
| Led them direct, and down the cliff as
fast |
| To the subjected plain ; then
disappeared. |
| They looking back all th’ eastern side
beheld |
| Of Paradise, so late their happy seat, |
| Waved over by that flaming brand ; the
gate |
| With dreadful faces thronged and fiery
arms : |
| Some natural tears they dropped, but
wiped them soon ; |
| The world was all before them, where to
choose |
| Their place of rest, and Providence
their guide. |
| They, hand in hand, with wand’ring
steps and slow, |
Through Eden took their solitary way.
|
| John Milton
| Classic Poems |
| |
|
[ On His Blindness ] [ Lycidas ] [ Ode on the Morning of Christ's Nativity ] [ Paradise Lost ] |
