Page:The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton.djvu/287

 BOOK TWELFTH

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��Lay sleeping ran before, but found her

waked ;

And thus with words not sad she him re- ceived:

"Whence thou return'st and whither went'st I know ; 610

For God is also in sleep, and dreams ad- vise, 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 Heaven, all places

thou, Who for my wilful crime art banished

hence.

This further consolation yet secure 620

I carry hence: though all by me is lost, Such favour I unworthy am voutsafed, 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 The Archangel stood, and from the other

hill

To their fixed station, all in bright array, The Cherubim descended, on the ground Gliding mete'orous, as evening mist

��Risen from a river o'er the marish glides, And gathers ground fast at the labourer's heel 63 1

Homeward returning. High in front ad- vanced, 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 the hastening Angel caught Our lingering Parents, and to the eastern

gate

Led them direct, and down the cliff as fast To the subjected plain then disap- peared. 640 They, looking back, all the eastern side

beheld

Of Paradise, so late their happy seat, Waved over by that flaming brand; the

te ladful 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 wandering steps

and slow, Through Eden took their solitary way.

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