And shun the bitter consequence: for know, The day thou eat'st thereof, my sole command Transgressed, inevitably thou shalt die;
From that day mortal: and this happy state Shalt lose, expelled from hence into a world Of woe and sorrow.' Sternly he pronounced The rigid interdiction, which resounds
Yet dreadful in mine ear, though in my choice Not to incur; but soon his clear aspéct Returned, and gracious purpose thus renewed. 'Not only these fair bounds, but all the Earth To thee and to thy race I give: as lords, Possess it, and all things that therein live, Or live in sea, or air; beast, fish, and fowl. In sign whereof, each bird and beast behold After their kinds: I bring them to receive From thee their names, and pay thee feälty With low subjection: understand the same of fish within their watery residence,
Not hither summoned, since they cannot change Their element, to draw the thinner air.'
As thus he spake, each bird and beast behold Approaching, two and two; these cowering low With blandishment; each bird stooped on his wing. I named them, as they passed, and understood Their nature, with such knowledge God endued My sudden apprehension: but in these
I found not what methought I wanted still; And to the heavenly Vision thus presumed.
O, by what name (for thou above all these, Above mankind, or aught than mankind higher,
Surpassest far my naming) how may I Adore thee, Author of this universe,
And all this good to man? for whose well-being So amply, and with hands so liberal,
Thou hast provided all things: but with me I see not who partakes in solitude What happiness, who can enjoy alone, Or, all enjoying, what contentment find? Thus I presumptuous; and the Vision bright, As with a smile more brightened, thus replied. What call'st thou solitude?. Is not the Earth With various living creatures, and the air Replenished, and all these at thy command
To come and play before thee? Know'st thou not Their language and their ways? They also know, And reason not contemptibly with these Find pastime, and bear rule; thy realm is large. So spake the Universal Lord, and seemed So ordering: I, with leave of speech implored, And humble deprecation, thus replied.
Let not my words offend thee, Heavenly Power! My Maker, be propitious while I speak!
Hast thou not made me here thy substitute,
And these inferior far beneath me set? Among unequals what society
Can sort, what harmony, or true delight? Which must be mutual, in proportion due Given and received; but, in disparity (The one intense, the other still remiss) Cannot well suit with either, but soon prove Tedious alike: of fellowship I speak
Such as I seek, fit to participate All rational delight: wherein the brute Cannot be human consort: they rejoice Each with their kind, lion with lioness; So fitly them in pairs hast thou combined: Much less can bird with beast, or fish with fowl So well converse, nor with the ox the ape; Worse then can man with beast, and least of all. Whereto the Almighty answered, not displeased. A nice and subtle happiness, I see,
Thou to thyself proposest, in the choice
Of thy associates, Adam! and wilt taste
No pleasure (though in pleasure) solitary.
What think'st thou then of me, and this my state? Seem I to thee sufficiently possessed
Of happiness, or not, who am alone From all eternity? for none I know
Second to me or like, equal much less.
How have I then with whom to hold converse,
Save with the creatures which I made, and those
To me inferiour, infinite descents
Beneath what other creatures are to thee?
He ceased; I lowly answered. To attain
The heighth and depth of thy eternal ways All human thoughts come short, Supreme of things! Thou in thyself art perfect, and in thee Is no deficience found: not so is Man, But in degree; the cause of his desire By conversation with his like to help, Or solace his defects. No need that thou Shouldst propagate, already Infinite;
And through all numbers absolute, though One: But Man by number is to manifest His single imperfection, and beget Like of his like, his image multiplied. In unity defective; which requires Collateral love, and dearest amity. Thou in thy secresy although alone, Best with thyself accompanied, seek'st not
Social communication: yet, so pleased,
Canst raise thy creature to what heighth thou wilt of union or communion, deified:
I, by conversing, cannot these erect
From prone; nor in their ways complacence find, Thus I emboldened spake, and freedom used Permissive, and acceptance found; which gained This answer from the gracious Voice Divine. Thus far to try thee, Adam, I was pleased, And find thee knowing, not of beasts alone, Which thou hast rightly named, but of thyself; Expressing well the spirit within thee free, My image, not imparted to the brute; Whose fellowship therefore unmeet for thee, Good reason was thou freely shouldst dislike; And be so minded still: I, ere thou spak'st, Knew it not good for Man to be alone; And no such company as then thou saw'st Intended thee; for trial only brought,
To see how thou couldst judge of fit and meet : What next I bring shall please thee, be assured, Thy likeness, thy fit help, thy other self, Thy wish exactly to thy heart's desire.
He ended, or I heard no more; for now
My earthly by his heavenly overpowered,
Which it had long stood under, strained to the heighth
In that celestial colloquy sublime,
(As with an object that excels the sense
Dazzled and spent) sunk down; and sought repair Of sleep, which instantly fell on me, called By Nature as in aid, and closed mine eyes. Mine eyes he closed, but open left the cell Of fancy, my internal sight; by which (Abstract as in a trance) methought I saw, Though sleeping, where I lay, and saw the shape Still glorious before whom awake I stood : Who stooping opened my left side, and took
From thence a rib, with cordial spirits warm, And life-blood streaming fresh: wide was the wound,
But suddenly with flesh filled up and healed: The rib he formed and fashioned with his hands: Under his forming hands a creature grew,
Man-like, but different sex; so lovely fair,
That what seemed fair in all the world, seemed now Mean, or in her summed up, in her contained, And in her looks; which from that time infused Sweetness into my heart, unfelt before;
And into all things from her air inspired The spirit of love and amorous delight. She disappeared, and left me dark; I waked To find her, or for ever to deplore
Her loss, and other pleasures all abjure :
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