Page:Stories in Verse.djvu/140

126 Was tempered, and the sky was always blue. Corpulent grapes along the crystal rocks, Made consorts of the long-robed lady leaves. The butterfly and bee, from morn till eve, Consulted with the roses, lip to lip, Which grew in rank profusion. They at times Dared to invade the empire of the grass, And overthrew its green-robed, spear-armed hosts. The lilies too were like an army there, And every night they struck their snowy tents, To please their great commander, the round moon— God's lily in the everlasting sky.

As to the heliotrope comes fluttering down The peacock-butterfly, who sips and flies, So each glad day gold-winged came to the land And sipped its sip of time and fled away. Now in an evil hour I hungered, and I saw The tree of life that grew forbidden fruit. What harm, I thought, is there to always live? To live is happiness; but to die is pain. The rental claimed by death falls due too soon. So I reached forth, and took the fruit, and ate. Then all the sky grew dark, and from the land Malignant terrors drove me shrieking forth; And as I fled, my youth abandoned me; My hair turned gray, my shoulders stooped, my blood