Would give it thee, my first most precious gift.

From all this messenger, with cautious words,

Lately unfolded to my wondering mind, I doubt not that it comes brought here from God

With His command. No likeness does it bear

To aught else on this Earth, but as I learn

(So saith this messenger) it comes di

rect

From God."

Oft did she speak to him and urged Him all the livelong day to that dark deed,

To break their Lord's command.

Meanwhile, near by, Hell's Envoy stood, inflaming his desires

And urging him with wiles; and followed him

With dark intent. The Foe was near

at hand,

He who had come from far, alone to wage

That danger-fraught campaign.
Much studious care
Had he bestowed in order to corrupt,
Mislead, and in the end to lure Man-
kind

Into the greater Death, that they might lose

The Almighty's promised gift, the lordly power

O'er Heaven's domain.

Well the Hell-miscreant knew, When he seduced with lying words and looks

The beauteous Eve, the fairest of her

race,

And bent her thought to work his evil aims

So that henceforth she spake his hellish will

And helped to ruin God's own handiwork,

Full well he knew that they must needs endure

God's righteous ire and endless pains

of Hell

And dungeon-punishment, since God's

command

They thus had disobeyed.

Then to her lord

Full oft she spake, fairest of Womankind,

Until at length his mind was full of doubt

From trusting to the promises she made Of Light and widened vision of the World.

(But all she did was done with true intent.)

As yet she knew not that so many ills And sinful woes must follow to Mankind

Because she deemed it wise to heed the words

Of that false messenger. For she believed

That in the revelations which she made To Adam's listening ear she but disclosed

A token from on High and wrought the Will

Of their exalted King.

For listening to the Fiend's delusive words.

Great was the Woman's grief; for well she knew

That through seductive arts they both had lost

The love of Heaven. And penitent in mind

She wept, for now she saw the Light depart

Which he who counselled them to do the crime

Had showed to her-false and illusive sign

Of his pretended claim. Deep sorrow burned

Within their breasts as dark remorse displayed

The unnumbered ills and ghastly punishment

Their sin entailed. At times on bended knee,

These guilty partners in a common sin, In heartfelt prayer, invoked their heavenly King

The Lord of Victory, the source of Good,

Beseeching Him that they alone might bear

And expiate the deadly penalty

Due to their guilty act, since they alone Had broken His command.

Didst thou mark out our future path. E'en now

Seest thou not the dark abyss of Hell With open gates wide-yawning at our feet?

The raging of its fires I plainly hear E'en from this distant spot. And how unlike

The beauteous realm of Heaven are yonder flames!

But now no fairer land than this our Earth

May we anticipate, nor can we ask Such favour of our Lord, since thou didst heed

The evil counsellor who planned our

woe

And urged disloyalty to Heaven's dread King,

The Ruler of the World. Naught now

remains

Save that we mourn in deepest peni

tence

The visit of that Fiend, since God Himself

Bade us beware that greatest of all ills, Unending torment. E'en at this mo

ment

Hunger and burning thirst, warring within

Like deadly foes, already rend in twain This mortal flesh! And how shall we protect

Our fragile life or find subsistence here When piercing winds from heaven's four quarters blow

And mists arise or showers of hail descend?

When biting frost and winter's cruel cold

Bind fast the Earth in iron bands? or when

The solar Sphere sends forth its glowing beams

And radiant heat? How can we then withstand,

In our defenceless state, each sudden change

Of Nature's fickle mood, devoid alike Of shelter from the storm and present

store.

Of needful food? In truth, possessing naught

Unless it be the dread hostility

Of an offended and All-puissant God? Deeply I grieve, (since now thou hast beguiled

My loving trust and hast subjected both To God's just ire,) that ever I invoked The great Creator's might, bone of my bone,

To frame thy beauteous form and place thee here

To share with me the joys of this fair World.

Yea, and it may repent me all my days That e'er I gazed upon thee with mine eyes."

Then answered Eve, fairest of Womankind,

Most beautiful of wives, the handiwork Of God e'en though undone through subtle craft:

"Well mayest thou upbraid me as thou dost,

O Adam, my beloved spouse, and yet Believe me, that thyself canst not bewail

More bitterly the outcome of this deed' Than I do in my heart."

Then Adam spake: "If I but knew the Almighty's sovereign Will,

What penalty awaits this fearful crime, None couldst thou find more ready to perform

That Will than I; e'en though by Heaven's decree

I had to plunge beneath the surging flood

And seek the Ocean's deep and sunken

caves.

No depth could terrify or rapid stream Could keep me from the abyss, if thus I might

Perform God's holy Will.

"No heart have I For worship, now that I have forfeited, Beyond retrieve, the favour of our King.

But let us haşten into yonder wold And sit within the grove's protecting shade,

For naked as we are it is not meet To tarry longer here."

Departing thence

They sought the shelter of the grateful wold

With deepest grief oppressed, and sat apart,

Awaiting now whatever righteous doom Heaven might inflict for guilty faithlessness

To that high trust which God had erst imposed.

Then sheltered by the forest's inmost shade

They plucked the leaves and clothed themselves therewith,

(For they were destitute of other garb) And every morn they knelt in solemn prayer

That God, the Mighty, Ruler of the World

Would not forget them in their great distress

But graciously reveal how they henceforth

Should live their ruined lives.

When many days Had come and gone, the mighty God at length

Revealed Himself, walking at eventide Amid the glories of that Earthly realm. The King All-merciful, in pity stooped To learn His children's need, and how they bare

Their ruined state, bereft of all the Grace

Which at the first adorned their mortal state.

Soon as they heard the voice of Holy God

They sought, with saddened mind and shorn of joy,

The shelter of the thickest grove, and seized

With sudden dread concealed themselves within

The rocky portals of a cave.