The Complete Poetry of John Milton (80 page)

   585     
Spiritual substance with corporeal barr.

               
But if within the circuit of these walks

               
In whatsoever shape he lurk, of whom

               
Thou tellst, by morrow dawning I shall know.

           
      
       
So promis’d hee, and
Uriel
to his charge

   590     
Returnd on that bright beam, whose point now rais’d

               
Bore him slope downward to the Sun now fall’n

               
Beneath th’
Azores;
whither the prime Orb,

               
Incredible how swift, had thither rowl’d

               
Diurnal, or this less volubil Earth

   595     
By shorter flight to th’ East, had left him there

               
Arraying with reflected Purple and Gold

               
The Clouds that on his Western Throne attend:

               
Now came still Eevning on, and Twilight gray

               
Had in her sober Liverie all things clad;

   600     
Silence accompanied, for Beast and Bird,

               
They to thir grassie Couch, these to thir Nests

               
Were slunk, all but the wakeful Nightingale;

               
She all night long her amorous descant sung;

               
Silence was pleas’d: now glow’d the Firmament

   605     
With living Saphirs:
Hesperus
that led

               
The starrie Host, rode brightest, till the Moon

               
Rising in clouded Majestie, at length

               
Apparent Queen unvaild her peerless light,

               
And o’re the dark her Silver Mantle threw.

  610   
    
         When
Adam
thus to
Eve:
Fair Consort, th’ hour

               
Of night, and all things now retir’d to rest

               
Mind us of like repose, since God hath set

               
Labour and rest, as day and night to men

               
Successive, and the timely dew of sleep

   615     
Now falling with soft slumbrous weight inclines

               
Our eye-lids; other Creatures all day long

               
Rove idle unimploid, and less need rest;

               
Man hath his daily work of body or mind

               
Appointed, which declares his Dignitie,

   620     
And the regard of Heav’n on all his waies;

               
While other Animals unactive range,

               
And of thir doings God takes no account.

               
To morrow ere fresh Morning streak the East

               
With first approach of light, we must be ris’n,

   625     
And at our pleasant labour, to reform

               
Yon flowrie Arbors, yonder Allies green,

               
Our walk at noon, with branches overgrown,

               
That mock our scant manuring,
⁴⁴
and require

               
More hands then ours to lop thir wanton growth:

   630     
Those Blossoms also, and those dropping Gumms,

               
That lie bestrown unsightly and unsmooth,

               
Ask riddance, if we mean to tread with ease;

               
Mean while, as Nature wills, Night bids us rest.

           
      
       To whom thus
Eve
with perfet beauty adornd.

   635     
My Author and Disposer, what thou bidst

               
Unargu’d I obey; so God ordains,

               
God is thy Law, thou mine: to know no more

               
Is womans happiest knowledge and her praise.

               
With thee conversing I forget all time,

   640     
All seasons
⁴⁵
and thir change, all please alike.

               
Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet,

               
With charm
⁴⁶
of earliest Birds; pleasant the Sun

               
When first on this delightful Land he spreads

               
His orient Beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flowr,

   645     
Glistring with dew; fragrant the fertil earth

               
After soft showers; and sweet the coming on

               
Of grateful Eevning mild, then silent Night

               
With this her solemn Bird and this fair Moon,

               
And these the Gemms of Heav’n, her starrie train:

   650     
But neither breath of Morn when she ascends

               
With charm of earliest Birds, nor rising Sun

               
On this delightful land, nor herb, fruit, flowr,

               
Glistring with dew, nor fragrance after showers,

               
Nor grateful Eevning mild, nor silent Night

   655     
With this her solemn Bird, nor walk by Moon,

               
Or glittering Starr-light without thee is sweet.

               
But wherfore all night long shine these, for whom

               
This glorious sight, when sleep hath shut all eyes?

           
      
       To whom our general Ancestor repli’d.

   660     
Daughter of God and Man, accomplisht
⁴⁷
Eve
,

               
Those have thir course to finish, round the Earth,

               
By morrow Eevning, and from Land to Land

               
In order, though to Nations yet unborn,

               
Ministring light prepar’d, they set and rise;

   665     
Least total darkness should by Night regain

               
Her old possession, and extinguish life

               
In Nature and all things, which these soft fires

               
Not only enlighten, but with kindly heat

               
Of various influence foment and warm,

   670     
Temper or nourish, or in part shed down

               
Thir stellar vertue on all kinds that grow

               
On Earth, made hereby apter to receive

               
Perfection from the Suns more potent Ray.

               
These then, though unbeheld in deep of night,

   675     
Shine not in vain, nor think, though men were none,

               
That heav’n would want spectators, God want praise;

               
Millions of spiritual Creatures walk the Earth

               
Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep:

               
All these with ceasless praise his works behold

   680     
Both day and night: how often from the steep

               
Of echoing Hill or Thicket have we heard

               
Celestial voices to the midnight air,

               
Sole, or responsive each to others note

               
Singing thir great Creator: oft in bands

   685     
While they keep watch, or nightly rounding walk

               
With Heav’nly touch of instrumental sounds

               
In full harmonic number joind, thir songs

               
Divide the night,
⁴⁸
and lift our thoughts to Heav’n.

           
      
       Thus talking hand in hand alone they pass’d

   690     
On to thir blissful Bower; it was a place

               
Chos’n by the sovran Planter, when he fram’d

               
All things to mans delightful use; the roof

               
Of thickest covert was inwoven shade

               
Laurel and Mirtle, and what higher grew

   695     
Of firm and fragrant leaf; on either side

               
Acanthus
, and each odorous bushie shrub

               
Fenc’d up the verdant wall; each beauteous flowr,

               
Iris
all hues, Roses, and Gessamin

               
Rear’d high thir flourisht
⁴⁹
heads between, and wrought

   700     
Mosaic; underfoot the Violet,

               
Crocus, and Hyacinth with rich inlay

               
Broiderd the ground, more colour’d then with stone

               
Of costliest Emblem:
⁵⁰
other Creature here

               
Beast, Bird, Insect, or Worm durst enter none;

   705     
Such was thir awe of Man. In shadier Bower

               
More sacred and sequesterd, though but feign’d,

               
Pan
or
Silvanus
never slept, nor Nymph,

               
Nor
Faunas
haunted. Here in close recess

               
With Flowers, Garlands, and sweet-smelling Herbs

   710     
Espoused
Eve
deckt first her Nuptial Bed,

               
And heav’nly Quires the Hymenæan
⁵¹
sung,

               
What day the genial
⁵²
Angel to our Sire

               
Brought her in naked beauty more adorn’d,

               
More lovely than
Pandora
,
⁵³
whom the Gods

   715     
Endowd with all thir gifts, and O too like

               
In sad event, when to th’ unwiser Son

               
Of
Japhet
brought by
Hermes
, she ensnar’d

               
Mankind with her fair looks, to be aveng’d

               
On him who had stole
Joves
authentic fire.

   720  
      
       Thus at thir shadie Lodge arriv’d, both stood,

               
Both turnd, and under op’n Skie ador’d

               
The God that made both Skie, Air, Earth and Heav’n

               
Which they beheld, the Moons resplendent Globe

               
And starrie Pole: Thou also mad’st the Night,

   725     
Maker Omnipotent, and thou the Day,

               
Which we in our appointed work imployd

               
Have finisht happie in our mutual help

               
And mutual love, the Crown of all our bliss

               
Ordaind by thee, and this delicious place

   730     
For us too large, where thy abundance wants

               
Partakers, and uncropt falls to the ground.

               
But thou hast promis’d from us two a Race

               
To fill the Earth, who shall with us extoll

               
Thy goodness infinite, both when we wake,

   735     
And when we seek, as now, thy gift of sleep.

           
      
       This said unanimous, and other Rites

               
Observing none, but adoration pure

               
Which God likes best, into thir inmost bowr

               
Handed they went; and eas’d the putting off