Adam cast forth :: :: University of Virginia Library

Adam cast forth

By Charles M. Doughty

Doughty, Charles Montagu (1843-1926)

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[Adam cast forth]

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Judæo-Arabian Legend Adam and Hawwa, cast forth from the Paradise, fell down in several places of the Earth: whence they, after age-long wandering, meet together again, upon a Mountain.

PERSONS

The All-Presence of the EVERLASTING FATHER.
Sammael (who is Satan), God's Adversary.
Ezriel, Help-of-the-Holy-One; Angel of the Lord's Face, and His Voice to Adam.
Cherubim of Glory.
Angels and Spirits.
Adam, more anciently Adamu, the First Man.
Adama, his Wife; who, after her childbearing, is named Hawwa, by Adam.
Chorus of descended Spirits.
Hours, The Night, The Day, Months, etc.

THE FIRST SONG

(Satan is seen standing bouna in chains of darkness, unto a Mountain in Harisuth , Land of the Lord's Curse .)
SATAN

Am I not that great Sammael, he that was
Before the Stars? Beside me only was
The Everlasting. . . . .

(The hills rebellow dread voice of Satan!)

Shall I my mouth not open? I blaspheme
Continually Heaven's Wisdom: I arraign
God's Justice. Thing Heaven forgeth on Mid-Earth;
Though thousand other Earths than this, God hath,
(More glorious far!) all Heaven's, I say, blind Works,
Great Sammael I, perpetually them will mar.

Hath God said, should be multiplied the Man's seed?
In our rebuke, He it said! when, in our stead,
(Angels exiled from heaven,) God Adam made:
But such I strife of heart, shall mongst them sow,

That Sammael shall be God named, of Earth's Ground

Quoth Gabriel, who flew now forth by me, Tremble!
Shall Sammael tremble? Sammael tremble, ha!
I tremble not at all: I Heaven's Brow fear?
Sammael fear Adam's Punishment; I fear Death!
I would embrace thee, O griesly goodly Death!
Should not these chains, this raging immane Grief,
This Gulf of Exiled State, then from me pass?

Ceased now is Heaven's first fury, on Mid-Earth,
For Adam's trespass: borne on manifold wings,
From Eden's East gate forth, whereas they sate;
Hearkening on height, and watching slide the Stars!
The Cherubim of His Glory are lifted up.
Forsaken now is wide Earth, of all Heaven's Spirits;
Earth, which God formed of old, and stablished it,
On naught: even this, I say, poor Ship of dust;
That hundred sithes my scornful heel subverted
Hath, in mine anger, ere that Adam was.

Tumbled the sharded mountains up my foot,
From the low Plain; on heaps, I spurned them thus.
Such horns then and high places of Earth's dust,
I, for my pastime, overthrew again,

When I was wroth. These ruins of hard rocks,
My fingers crumble, as a little dust.

In my displeasure, ofttime mine hot breath
Kindled the Earth beneath: then flowed forth rocks;
The hills dissolved were, as an honey-comb.
In shallow of my palm, I caught up oft
Deep's bitter Flood; and whelmed upon dry land!
Blind be, though outward fair, therein God's Works.
The tree He caused to grow, out of Earth's dust,
And the green herb; but lacking motion, sense,
And voice, those stand before Him, as brute stocks!

God spake again; and beasts and birds of heaven;
And fishes, things of flesh, were made alive:
Nor lacked they sense nor motion, in their kinds,
Nor voice: yet wanting mind and speech, those might not,
Through communing, to understánding grow;
Nor praise to Him Which made them yield, nor thanks:
Nor going those belly-down low on Earth's ground,
Look upward. Of the self then loam whereof
God formed before all beasts, He Adam made:
Like shaped to theirs, in all things, was Man's flesh:
Save that as flittering bird her young one feedeth;
I Sammael I beheld, from hence, far off,

The Highest breathe of His Spirit, in Adam's breast!

Yet might not such endure; for was it mixt,
In Adam, with base ferment of beast's flesh:
What though the man, from midst his living dust,
A voice of understanding lifted up!
And given to Adam was the tongue of Angels.
Is this, Blind Heavens, the Crown of Thy proud Works!
Of them that perish with me, exiled Spirits,
Who Least, the Whisperer Hanash, hath sufficed
Thy clay-made Man deceive. Like fledgling bird,
Naked and simple, fleshling Adam was.

Light fault, nay the imperfection of Thy Work,
In him was his! Whence fallen is on them both,
Aye and in them, on their Seed, Thine hasty Curse:
So, on Angels, fell Thy Sempiternal Wrath!

Sammael could pity Adam: but that springs not
Pity in this high perduring adamant breast,
Which received none: for even now Heaven loost forth,
In His first fury, Sarsar, that outbloweth
An hundred little years of yond proud Sun.

It cleaved the Adam twain; them reft apart:
As reem, it tossed. Then surging, lifted up
Man's feeling clot; and buffeteth still him forth.

But hundred, as I muse, well-nigh be passed
Years of the Stars, Sun-circuits of Mid-Earth.
I see descend strong Angel of His Presence!
Towards Plain is this returning of Earth's dust.
I will me gird, with a dark cloud and watch.

Great Sammael, ha! contemns all judgment's Heaven!
Thou canst cast on him; knowing how, in the end,
Dissolved must be Thine everlasting Chains!

(Darkness: terrific elemental sounds are heard, continuing long space. Then dim light shineth; and a CHORUS entereth, of heavenly beings and of light Earth-Spirits.
Scene: The Brow of Harisuth ; a Palm-grove.)
CHORUS. EZRIEL. ADAM
CHORUS
Great tale this day of years accomplished is
Since Adam's trespass: whirling fiery blast,

Of the Lord's anger ceaseth. I behold,
(Out of the Tempest, is he fallen down,
In mountain border of murk Harisuth,)
Adam, blind, bowed together: blackened is
His visage and his flesh. Lo, in this grove,
He lies of palm-stems: now, from heaven, he hears
Again an Angel's voice; and faints his spirit.

EZRIEL
The Lord, Which formed thee Adam, of Earth's dust;
Who breathéd breath in thee of Life, and set
Midst Eden's Garden, also this day hath
Remembered thee, in Mercy!

ADAM
O thou that speakest
To Adam from on height, art not that Voice,
Which walked with me in Eden. Whereby might
I, O in this darkness of my sore-bruisèd flesh,
Which dust was of Earth's dust, know that thou art not
Some one of the deceivable Spirits, which us
Beguiled in Eden, whence this Punishment?

EZRIEL
Thine eyes shall see my light.

ADAM
I see thee not:
Consumed these pupils my much weeping hath;
Because heard not the Father Adam's voice;
And much sharp dust, which whirling Sarsar lifted.

EZRIEL
The Lord, that healeth thee saith; Shall thy dark flesh
Behold again heaven's eve and morrow's Light,
Earth's pleasant face, green lawns and fruitful groves.

ADAM
If High One thou wert, from Heaven Father sent;
Show me where Adama is, in the Lord's Earth?
She that was sundered from this anguished being.

EZRIEL
She draweth nigh also unto thee.

ADAM
O tempt me not!
I do adjure thee, O thou high heavenly Voice,
By the Lord God, and Father of all Spirits,
Thy name make known, to dust-sprung wretched Adam.

EZRIEL
Help of the Holy One, am I named, mongst Angels.
From heaven, to succour thee, was I now sent forth:
Thou that wast disobedient to His Voice.
Wherefore the Lord God saith, Shall no more flesh
Behold the infinite Glory of His Face!
Nor stedfast look even on His sunny rays.

ADAM
Be not soon angry with this dust! If wast
Thou Ezriel, from Heaven Father, sent to us;
Declare that hidden Name, which, in the Eden,
The Highest revealed unto His Creature Adam.

EZRIEL
I-AM, to thee is Adam the Lord's Name:
If I should add thereto, thine heart of flesh
Not able were to bear it; but should faint,
And thy soul perish. Day behold is this
To thee of gladness; wherein AM hath put
Thy Sin from His Remembrance. Reach now forth
Thine hand; and take and eat of this tree's fruit,
Whereunder Sarsar-cast, in darkness sittest
Thou thus: the fowls shall bring thee no more meat.

ADAM
Shall I do this? What though with sense I see not;
My soul knoweth, some hid hollowness lurks beneath
This place, where might I fall; and die the death!

EZRIEL
Did not I now hid wondrous Name rehearse;
That only they can utter which come from Him?
It heard thine ears, doubt not thou, in heart, to eat.

CHORUS
Blind Adam gropeth up, with his hand, so finds;
And of the palm's fruit plucketh; whereof he eats,
As Ezriel bade, and strengthened is his heart.

ADAM
That which I taste is fruit the palm-stem bears;
But whence these thorns, which in the boughs?

EZRIEL
Because
The Lord, for your sake cursed the living ground.

ADAM
I drowse; much heaviness doth my soul oppress.
Long are the days, since Adam tasted sleep.
I pray thee O Ezriel, and if I should sleep,
Thou slumbering wretched Adamu not forsake;

Lest Adam finding thus, some evil beast,
Beast of the Field, which I in Eden named not,
Me rend. Such saw I, ere these eyes of flesh,
Were dark; what day I in Harisuth was hurled forth,
That ramped together hideous, in derne place;
And rent to blood each other, on dim dust!

EZRIEL
The Lord hath given charge Adam, that no beast
Come nigh to hurt thee, till art thou waxed great;
When shall thy Seed be many, in the Earth:
Thy Sons shall find against them strong defence.
Hast now thou eaten, and art thou refreshed?
So lay thee Adamu down, in the Lord's Peace.
Am I not nigh thee? Doubt not so to sleep:
Come evening is. The Lord be with thee, Rest!

(Swart night-Hours, cloudy winged Creatures, enter from above, and those slowly hover forth: then the morrow cometh; and the white day-Hours go by, till afternoon.)
ADAM
(rousing himself)
My dream was deep, and strong the bands of sleep;
As when was taken Adama from this flesh.

EZRIEL
That cometh, which I foretold thee, now to pass!

CHORUS
Now nigheth, from far waste places of Earth's dust;
Which heavenly Eye regardeth not. Adama, woman!
Lo, on bunch of a tall camel, she drooping sitteth,
Beast gaunt, quick-striding, hoary, as for long eld.

ADAMA. CHORUS. ADAM
ADAMA
(with languishing small voice)
Couch thee, O foster-camel, fall to knee:
So sit, that might I touch to ground this foot;
And hie forth to him.

(The she-camel kneels under her. ADAMA alights feebly: and she runneth now unto ADAM.)
ADAMA
Adam, Adamu, Adam!

ADAM
The Lord God called me Adam, in what day
He formed me of red loam, a living flesh;
And God breathed of His Spirit, in Adam's being.

O what art thou, that callest so instant Adam?
Not thine the Voice is of that Holy Angel,
Which spake even now from heaven, to wretched Adam:
But like voice, which in Eden, the Lord's Garden,
Sounded from lips ah of Adama, my lost Wife.

CHORUS
Her knees fail: fainting, Adama sinketh lo down,
On Adam's neck: she kisseth him, sighs and weeps.

ADAMA
Spouse-father, It am Adama I that speak.

ADAM

This is no Spirit, doth mock my troubled sense;
A Spirit hath not substance. This which leans,
With twining arms, on Adam's travailled breast;
Whose breath, like breath the cedars wafted forth,
In Eden, flesh is. These be tears of flesh;
Hot tears that still so rife, on my neck thus.

O whereby might I know thee, whence thou art?
Art thou my very helpmate, Adama?
Whom gave the Lord to Adam, in the Garden:
And not one of the mocking Spirits, which flit,
In dim dread Harisuth, Land of the Lord's Curse?

ADAMA
(looking to heaven)
O give words Heaven Father, to these lips!
My soul hath speech forgotten of Thy Garden;
That might I speak, and not be strange to Adam.

ADAM

Woe is me, I cannot see thee, if verily art
Mine Adama thou. O that, as they be dark,
These pupils now had light. Canst thou not speak,
To Adamu, O Adama, thou which wast my wife?
I had not words remembered of that speech
We learned uneath of Angels, in the Garden,
So were they too great, for our hearts and lips,
Of flesh; but that I groaning ceased not speak,
In prayer, to Heaven Father; and amidst
My tears, my soul pour forth. Canst not thou speak?
O that I words heard once more of thy voice!
Which sounded in mine ears, like unto hymns
Of the winged Creatures; that each day to Adam,
Descended in the Eden. These footsteps
Be, as the gentle steps of my loved Wife.
O that I once more might behold her looks!

If art thou Adama, O let me feel thy face.

By these thine eyes, which like to shining pools,
Of Gihon's overflowing, were in Eden;
Whence still hot drops?

ADAMA
I cried loud, in my Spirit,
To Thee Lord Heaven Father of all Spirits!
And turns remembrance to me of our speech.
Spouse-father, I am Adama I that speak.

ADAM
Have Heaven Father all that Adam hath,
His praise, his thanks! (To ADAMA)
Ah, much mine arms embrace,
Mine Adama abóut thee, on this travailled breast!
Beloved, I on thy lips breathe of my spirit,
Breathe thou on mine.

ADAMA
The kisses of thy lips
Shall be to Adama as the Tree of Life,
Midst Eden's Garden, in that hidden Place;
Whose fruits were the desire of our two hearts!

ADAM
Tell me, what coast is this of the Lord's Earth?

ADAMA
Here stoops sharp brink, Spouse-father, of deep rocks.

ADAM
What hour of day?

ADAMA
Goeth down now the Lord's Sun.

ADAM
His Sun have I not seen, since we twain driven
Were from the Eden: covers Harisuth
Thick murkness (ADAMA ariseth).
Goest thou O
Adama, ah, from me forth!

ADAMA
I yonder see some corded vine: I with
Sharp stone will sever it; and thence bind us both
Together: that might nothing in this night,
Which may befall, O father, separate us.

ADAM
Bind thou me, O Adama, unto earth-fast craigs:
Knit us together to these living trees!
Twine thy dear limbs about me, sith, as roots
Lay hold on rocks.

(ADAMA severs with a stone; and brings thence long vines. She bindeth them both together therewith.)

ADAM
Come heart to heart: and lift
We twain, one Adam, up from our joined lips,
One cry to heaven!

ADAMA
I durst, in thine embrace,
O father, speak with Angels. Now I cure not
How long this night be, in surety of thine arms.

ADAM
And is it that His holy Stars look forth?

ADAMA
O, couldest thou Adam see this rising Night,
How it is fair and full of Angels' looks!

ADAM
Be thou mine eyes; for these which of my flesh,
Are darkened. Since day the Lord sent us forth,
I saw not Stars, above dim drizzling dust;
Which lifted whirling Sarsar from the Earth.

End of the First Song.

Heb. Destruction.

Ar. A vehement (divine) wind.

Heb. and Ar. The beast of strength, the wild ox.

THE SECOND SONG

ADAM. ADAMA. CHORUS
BLIND ADAM
I wake from sleep, and Sarsar rageth not!
How fallen is a great stillness, on Earth's dust!
I dreamed was Adama with me, my loved Wife;
Whose voice, was in the Garden, mine heart's peace.
Ah now, my vision fadeth!

ADAMA
Dayspring is:
Hearest not thou, O Adam father, birds' glad voice?
Feel'st not thou this new wafted from the earth,
Which in the Eden was, fresh morning breath?

ADAM
No dream this is; but my loved Adama's voice!
Her arms be these ah, about my neck embraced.

ADAM
I do behold new greenness of the ground,

Whereon white dew of heaven is fallen this night.
I have not His pearled dew seen, since we driven
Were from the Eden!

ADAM
I, to-night, in vision,
Beheld, with these dark eyes, both field and grove;
Wherein, with God's new Blessing, shall we live.
How cometh unto my sense such flowery breath,
As in the Garden was!

ADAMA
We have found Grace.
Could thy dark eyeballs see, it is the breath
Of lilies; which the Lord hath caused this night,
To spring up, and to blow round our bed-place.

ADAM
I lilies do remember, of the Garden,
For beauty as the sunbeams, that wont spring
Up in the footprints of God's holy Angels.
Reach of this dew down to me, on the branch,
Beloved, that I therewith might wash my face;
Likewise these palms: and lift them and my voice,
To Him Who formed me.

(She beareth down a palm leaf-branch to ADAM.)

ADAMA
Pray thou, for us both:
Thy looks on heaven be fixt, mine on the Earth.

ADAM
(praying)

To Thee lift I Lord, from this dust, my face;
That am but dust, which Thou createdst thus.
From trembling lips of clay, hear Adam's breath.
Be not for ever, Father, with us wroth!

(To ADAMA.)

Beloved , but know even now, of those few drops;
Which ran down from my palms upon my face,
Mine eyes be lightened. I the glory again
Do see, O uplifted of His Sun, in heaven!
Thy loved looks see I dimly, as in the Eden.

CHORUS
From Adam's piteous eyelids, still great drops,
For joy; his hovering hands, he stretcheth forth thus,
Unto Adama his, yet dim seen, Helpmate Wife!

ADAM
Ah, have verily Angels, of His Mercies, made;
Since day, when we Beloved were driven forth,

A covert o'er thee, shadowing with wide wings!
Mine eyes be feeble: gaze thou for me forth;
And say, if yet thou seest the Lord's fair Earth.

ADAMA
Spouse-father, what should Adama look far off,
Thee see I, like to shadow on Earth-field,
Of Heaven Father. Where thou Adam art,
Shall be to Adama Eden on the Earth.

EZRIEL. ADAM. ADAMA. CHORUS
(The Angel's Voice proclaims.)

The years of Adam's Punishment are ended!
The Lord be with you twain, whom God hath joined
Anew together. Rise now up, descend,
To Valley of the Lord's Rest, from this waste place.

ADAM
Haste, do we off these bonds, that on our feet,
We stand to worship, bowing down our heads;
As Angels taught to Adam in the Garden.

(Unloost their cords, the ADAM stand up; and they lift their hands towards heaven.)

ADAMA
How is thy stature minished, that in height
Excelled the cedars! And thy God-sprung face
Blackened with sorrow: like some withered fruit,
Is rivelled thy fair front. Those sunbright locks,
Which daily in Eden I was wont to tress;
And with fair garlands of sweet flowers to deck,
Mane seemeth me of some béast of wilderness;
And so thou haltest, as sore bruised were thy feet!

ADAM
Great were our sorrows! Pass we hastily hence;
As bade the Voice.

ADAMA
Girding each other thus;
So may we stay up each the other's steps.
Adam, erst I to yonder brake would trace;
Wherein methinks lies couched my foster-beast.
Shall not she go now father forth, with us?

CHORUS
They twain come thither. Adama's camel lies
Stiff, lately dead, cold stretched out, without breath;
Mongst thicket of these thorns lo and wild craigs!

ADAMA
Eigh me! and is not Adam this the death?
Whereof dark Angel of the Punishment spake,
In day, when the Lord angry was with us.
My camel is and is not! Fowl we knew not,
Fret, with crude bloody beaks, ah her cold flesh!

ADAM
I have seen death; birds fugitive and fleet beasts,
By crooked lightnings, smitten to Earth's dust.
Those fell and moved no more: but stink came up,
As blackness, from their earth. Fly we from death!

CHORUS
Now as they wayfare, on their feeble feet,
Descending purblind Adam stumbles oft.

ADAMA
Heed father, how thou goest, in these rock-steeps,
O'er sliding stones: but if on heaven be fixt
Thy looks, let mine hand guide thee, in Earth's path. (She prays)

Beseech Thee, stay up his afflicted steps,
Heaven Father, that he fall not. We forgate
This morn to eat, ere that we parted forth:
Therefore we faint; and now we greatly thirst.

CHORUS
Those twain-one enter pathway of the beasts,
Which formed the Lord before them, in wide Earth;
Path, which to well-spring leads them and green grass.

ADAM
Methought I heard some water's falling sound;
And lo a fountain, sprinkling from this stone!
O blissful sight! I have not water seen
Since flowing Gihon, in His River-Garden.

(They drink now thereat.)
CHORUS
Their eyes be opened, whiles they drink; they see
They come are to green ground and fruitful trees.

ADAMA
The Lord hath brought us forth, to blissful place:
Shall not we, in the freshing shade, here rest
Us on green grass; and cool in this clear brook
Our way-beat feet?

ADAM
Spake now an heavenly Voice,
Within my breast, that I lift up my face;
And lo His Sun, ascended to mid-height,
Rests, as lies eagle, on stretched even wings!

I go, to stand before the Lord, beside
Yond cedar bough.

ADAMA
And I the while will pluck,
Ripe fruits; that when thou comest, we might dine.

CHORUS
In that she goeth in grove, lo Adam lifteth
Up his two washen palms; and in his prayer,
Draws nigh to the High Infinite Fatherhood!
And borne his words, on wings of Angels, are;
That mount up, in heaven's height, before the Throne:
And God remembereth Adam on low Ground.
He ceaseth nów: the feet also I hear
Revert of Adama, mongst the fruitful boughs.

ADAM. ADAMA
ADAM
O Adama, I behold thee lily-fair!
As when thee brought the Lord to me in Eden.

ADAMA

In that I went forth, gathering fruits and flowers,
Mongst the sheen branches, listening to sweet birds;

I a glistering well-pool spied, where grew around
Such herbs, as we beforetime knew in Eden.
Therein I saw then, like an heavenly vision,
Some Being more even than árt thou O Adamu fair!
The appearance of an Angel, that I knew not:
Which, whilst I looked, seemed woman. I outstretched
Mine hand: she likewise hand put forth toward mine.

Down, at the water's brink, to view more near
This thing, I kneeled: she kneeled! I gazed upon her.
I laughed, I spake: she laughed then, but not spake.
And in her other hand, were fruits as these,
And flowers like unto mine. Surprised mine heart,
I startling leapt; and plashed therein my foot.

Marred then the image was: she fled alas!
I saw her not again; though I descended
To seek her, in the pool. But came to pass;
In that I sprinkled with the water was,
Went from me mine old aching weariness!
I washed, I tressed my locks, I came up thus.

ADAM
Thou thine own image beheldest in the water!
But what and if it of those waters were,
Of Life, which, in my dream I saw this night:
Flowing from underneath the roots, in Eden,

Of Tree of Life, whose top reached to high heaven;
Will not me peradventure Heaven Father
Therein heal also? O helpmate lead me thither.

(She brings him on, by the hand.)
ADAMA
Under these hovering boughs, I guide thee forth.
And lo that well, whereof I father spake!

(He goes down in the water. ADAMA returns to the fountain.)
ADAM
How even now is allayed the long disease
And quickened the old languor of my being!
How, whiles I, in the bubbling rundels, wash,
Confirmed be these loose joints! In this warm wave,
My pithless loins, recover former force:
Aye and wonder of the Lord, these pupils dim,
Receive, now Ó I pláinly see, their Light!
And rest, from Harisuth's torment, mine heart hath.
Ah, and how, Lord God, is Eden-fair this Place!

(The Man goeth dripping up from the healing well; and so cometh again unto ADAMA, at the fountain.)
ADAMA
How turn'st thou O father, in thy former stature;

As when I saw thee walking, midst the Eden,
With God; in that I waked a living flesh!
Why calledst thou not me? I listened for thy cry.
To run-to, and lead thee!

ADAM
I Adama, O I come seeing!
How might I yield God thanks?

THE VOICE
How but by Thine
Obedience Adam.

ADAM and ADAMA, together.
Lord, we do give thanks:
We adore with Angels, praising Thee; we bless
Thine holy Name!

ADAMA
How father came this thing,
Such wonder thing to pass?

ADAM
In that I washed!
And being now, from that healing pool, went forth,
I looking back, beheld; and lo sunk up
The well of Life was in that pit of Earth!

ADAMA
Shall not we eat, of these my gathered fruits,
Now as we sit, our mid-day meat?

(They eat.)
ADAM
Whiles thus
We rest, Ah tell me thy vicissitudes;
Sith day we twain, before that whirling flame,
Driven forth, fell down before dread Cherub's face;
And parted us, one Adam, Sarsar's breath.

ADAMA
Father I cannot, till I hear thee speak,
Thereto me frame. Speak, whiles I O Adamu tress,
And deck, with these new-gathered flowers thy locks:
Let gaze mine eyes still on thy God-like looks;
So shall mine heart rejoice, to hear thy voice.

ADAM

Thou knowest how planted the Lord's Garden was,
In Eden; where called God's creating Breath
Me Adam forth, from adamat, the red dust.

I waked, in what hour I created was,
A living flesh; and mingled infinite voice,
Of things done in the heavens and on the Earth,

Was in mine ears. Had feeling every sense:
Mine eyes, when I them opened, received Light.

Not as trees' root-fast trunks, was Adam's being,
Which I beheld at erst: I moved, stood up,
On my two feet; alone among them walked.
I birds, as I went forth, beheld and beasts:
And knew the words of Angels; which gave praise
To Heaven Father. Sith, in the next days,
Where saw I them, or heard their heavenly voices,
I questioned with those wing-bright messengers,
Of all within my seeing; and how before,
In flood, in Earth, in air, were all things made:
And what the shining ordinances of His Sun,
The Moon, and starry wonder of the Night?
And of all pleasant fruits, in the Lord's Garden,
As I went forth, I pluckt; I also ate:
And at His flowing River, quenched my thirst.

Me Adam then those heavenly voices taught,
How with mine hands, to till God's Garden-ground;
And the clear water-channels to lead round
About the roots of the Lord's pleasant plants;
And tender slips beside my furrows set:
And to sow seed, that might conceive the earth;
And bring forth in her season, and rejoice:

And how to prune God's fruitful trees, and dress;
That should their branches flourish. I me rested,
In midday heat, what time I weary was.

Come afternoon, when I again went forth;
I numbered, as the Lord put in mine heart;
And called each by their names, all living kinds;
Which gathered were to Adam, in the glades,
Birds, beasts and creeping things. Each morn, heart-glad,
I waked: I walked before the Lord, and when
On Garab, the Lord's mountain, eye of the Sun
Went down. I weary heart-full joyous rested.

And came oft-times the Lord to me, in vision,
Even whiles I slept; and gave light to my spirit:
And seemed the Father's Wings, in that I slept,
To cover me from all dread: and daily I was
Instructed of the Lord's winged Messengers.

Like, yet not like to Adam, were God's Angels;
Not having flesh, nor being of Earth's ground;
For are those Spirits: but like to Adam's thought,
They came to sight and vanished forth again,
As the steep wings of birds. And they the Sons
Of God be named; and are as the bright Stars.
Such then I Adam was. The Lord sith cast

Upon me a deep sleep; like that from whence
I waked, in day when I created was:
Therein Heaven Father severed Adam's being;
And wast thou O Adama sundered from this breast!

Then were we happy helpmates, in His Garden;
Whereas the Lord God blessed us many days:
Till morn, when creeping beast, we knew not of,
Deceived our souls. Shame of face, bitterness,
New mind, strange enmity, then in Adam was.
For seemed us, were we naked, in God's seeing!
And sight of holy Angels, midst His Garden;
Not as all beasts be clothed, and fowl of heaven:
Wherefore we all day, in trembling, did us shroud,
Till come the evening cool, mongst thicket leaves.

Then God was weary of us; and from heaven,
There fell a Voice, which drove us Adam forth:
And we, before a swift destroying flame;
Which, in an Angel's hand, whirled midst the Garden,
(Was that beginning of our Punishment;)
And turnéd every way, fled to East Gate;
Which looketh wide forth, towards Plain of the Lord's Eden.

There fell we at feet of frowning Cherubim:
Whence reft me all suddenly from thee, fiery Tempest.

Such rushing Spirit was it of the Lord's Wrath;
I might me no more stay on my two feet.
Howbeit, in that I from thee parted was;
With the strong Angel of the Punishment,
I strove come nigh thee: but caught up, twixt Earth
And heaven, murk dreadful Sarsar hurled me forth.
Through thickets deep of thorns, I lifted was,
And thistles: sharp rocks rent my buffeted flesh.

When after this, waked my long dismayed sense;
Lo it Harisuth's soil was, Land of the Lord's Curse!
Earth without Light, neath starless firmament;
Save oft swift lightnings, that split the fast rocks;
And fiery rain, and glowing there beneath
Couched fearful lake. I saw by that dim Light,
Terrible to look on, derne-winged flying shapes,
Swart rushing multitúde of dragon spirits;
Whereof, before-time, God's Voice spake to us,
In Eden; but perceived it not our hearts;
Not having conscience yet of any ill:
Of whom one lately, in the Lord's Garden, crept,
Beguiled our souls. I in levin-rended Tempest,
Thenceforth, and without cease, tormented was.

What hour I fell down-forth, out of that blast,

To the dim Earth, behold it empty was,
A wailing-place of dragons. Cumber was
Of burning stones there strewed, beneath my feet,
Cast out from heaven, against those perverse spirits,
Whereunder smitten, lay, like unto green trunks,
Fell dragon brood. Still seeking thee, shut up
Mine heart in anguish, I like worm, crept forth;
Till lean my flesh and dry was, as a leaf.
I cried to heaven, loud calling, by their names,
Angels of Succour, which we knew in Eden:
But void returned my voice to me again!

I asked of wide-spread ground, dim glowing rocks;
And whirling fiery blast, which full of shrieks
Was in my fearful ears! where Adama was?
And was there none that answered. Day and night-time,
I hearkened, and I might not hear thy voice.
I saw thee oft, in sorrow of vast Night,
The swoon of sleep, I wist not whither, pass;
In sun-beat and most desolate wilderness!
Thy form beheld; but seldwhiles thy loved face.

Sith knew I, that is Land of the Lord's Curse;
Whither banned God, of old time, Satan's Spirits:

(Satan, lord of the Bohu's vast Abyss:
Is that their dark abode, under the Earth,)
Angels rebellious, whom His Power cast forth,
Before the hills were named, or yet flesh was,
Upon the ground. And therein parching heats,
There aching cools, returnings of long years,
More than seven sevens, twice told, o'er Adamu passed.
Each day new whirlwind lifted me and cast
Down in more dreadful coast, midst Harisuth;
Where heard not God my loud lamenting voice.

Storm-fowl of vast swart wing, their feathers rent;
For mightily those, with Tempest-blast, contended,
Of Sarsar's mouth, each day brought Adam fruits;
Fruits I ere knew not, fruits so tart of taste,
That might I uneath eat my sorrowful meat.
I in whirling sweltry Harisuth aye sore thirsted:
But save my salt tears, which still watered forth
That fiery dust, where tempest-driven I passed,
I found there naught to drink. All fowl of heaven
Were fled. Thing that bears life, that moveth, I saw not;

Nor any herb, nor any green thing was
There; save few stems of thorns, whose utmost cops,
Raught not to height of Adam's travailled breast;
Nor any shelter was thereof: till last,
In the end of days, when darkened was my flesh;
Methought I saw some shapes of the Lord's beasts.

Storm-driven to utmost brink, soon after this;
And cast down, on my knees, in Harisuth's Coast;
I fell, before the Lord God, on my face.
I groaned, I wept; and ceased His thrilling wind!

Then spake an Angel to me, at whose Voice,
I fainted. Sith I stretched my right hand forth,
As Ezriel bade me; for with eye, I saw not.
I groped; and found, of palm-stem, where I sate,
Ripe dates. I ate; and strengthened was mine heart.
The rest thou knowest: but O Beloved, rehearse
Now all thine haps, since Angels drove us forth;
And Sarsar parted us, beyond the Gate!

ADAMA
(who sits platting soles, of palm-bast)
Father, an hundred times, hath failed my breath,
To hear thy sorrows; and yet faints mine heart:

Wherefore let plait mine hands, to end, my task,
These soles: that might we have when we wend forth,
In the Lord's path, to ease our fretted feet.
This learned I, in thát mine outcast extreme state,
O'er scalding sand to pace. Sith will I speak.

ADAMA

I O father, I divided from thine arms,
Naught had, in all the world beside; and wast
Thou taken from me! How, where thou wast not
Seemed dark to Adama all that sun-stricken earth!
Then failed my sense, whence fallen on the Lord's ground,
I fainted. When I waked, behold it was
Vast desolate Land I looked on; in whose coast,
I called thee all day: and dread pursuing voice
Was in mine ears. Whilst still thee, O Adamu, I sought,
As lamb the ewe; lo was it the dim night.
I swooned in sorrow and long astonishment!

Come morn, as fledgling fallen out of her nest;
Still seeking thee, I faintly wandered forth.
Then heard I cries, as father, were thy voice!
I looking back, saw God's winged Messengers,

Returning up, in brightness, from vast Earth!

But when new-risen was the Lord's angry Sun,
To his high noon; and tarried to go down:
Seemed all the day long to me, a bleak night;
Wherein I ah, without thee, was alone.
I marked then whistle pens of birds aloft:
Ran forth before my footsteps, frighted beasts,
From wasted Eden fugitive. One beast would not,
(Beast, that thou ere namedst camel, in the Eden,)
Then from me widowed orphan Adama pass,
Till eve. But she, which lately her calf had lost,
Couched by me; and wreathing back her long long neck,
Did seem thus bid me mount. I then that was
Footweary and fainting, climbed on her tall haunch.

The most days sith I rode till eve forth thus;
When hunger, thirst, and drooping weariness,
Compelled me; and I drank milk of her teats,
Like to her young one. Times then o'er me passed,
Of Sun and Stars, beyond all count; the whiles
I driven and without stay, still wandered forth,
Aye seeking thee; in coast, where herb was not;
For dewless is that dust; save what salt blade
Vast wasteness nourisheth; whence my camel pastured:
Land, where my whispered words of heaviness, voice

Of sighing, midst my tears; to Heaven Father;
And my lamenting cries to thee, O Adam;
Loud lone rocks bellowing direful back again;
Made sound, as some strange fearful blasphemies!

Nor waxed my foster-camel old; she was
By day a shadow, whát hours I paced forth
Beside her, in sun-beat wide wilderness:
By night, was kindly shelter her warm flank.

Yet durst I seldwhiles sleep, for cries, by night,
Out of that fearful murk. The voices were,
As when thou sometime calledst to me in Eden,
From over Gihon; but whiles I gave ear,
Those turned to dreadful wailings. When again
I cried, amidst my tears, thou answeredst not;
Because it was not thou. I passed thenceforth.
Sand without sound, unending sun-stunned earth;
Or else, in heaviness of this panting heart,
Within my feeble breast, these ears waxed deaf.

My feet did sink therein; and my knees knocked,
For fear, together: lastly, in lifting up,
To heaven, (whence cometh our help!) my mourning looks,
I wandering wings of eagles, and of owls,
Beheld fly in far loft. Hills then I passed,

Of flying serpents, where for dread mine heart
Melted within me. Greenness sith of ground,
Whereto I came, gainst noon, saw I beyond:
Thorns then, that on a dizzy sun-drenched sand,
Bleak shadows cast; under whose spiny tops,
I rested and my foster-beast: though pierced
Thistles and thick-strewed pricks, my fretted feet.

I footprints of fleet roes, those thorns around,
Beheld; mongst whose dim-smelling blossomed boughs,
Were flittering bees, which sucked wild sweetness forth.
Then lightened in long travail was mine heart;
And seemed ascend my sighing from the ground!

But on the morrow, when His Sun was up,
An East wind brought thick shimmering locusts' flight:
Whence settling infinite multitude, on the thorns,
All living greenness quite devoured thereof.

Was afternoon, when I, new looking forth,
Beheld, from heaven's steep circuit, to low Earth,
Returning; and seemed sunny rays their path,
Heaven Father's wing-bright holy Messengers.
Mine eyes being opened, I discerned far off,
Then palm-trees' grove. My camel, on whose neck,

I clambered, bare me thither, with rapt steps:
Was there I O father, found thee in all the Earth!

ADAM
(sighing)
We may not question with the Lord, nor ask,
Why dost Thou thus? nor gainsay, in our hearts.
The thing which pleaseth Him, that the Father doth.

Heb. The dust of the ground.

Heb. The-Satan, from the nown satan, which signifies adversary.

Heb. (Gen. i. 2) Emptiness.

CHORUS. ADAM. ADAMA
CHORUS
The Sun stoops to his setting; Adam risen
Lifts his two washen palms devout towards heaven.
Goes Adama plucking fruits; so turns to Adam.
They sup. Now Adama risen gathers leaves.

ADAMA
Behold, I O Adam, strew a bed of leaves,
As birds their nests; and garnish thus with fleece,
Caught in yond thicket-thorns, beside our path:
These feathers took I up, from the green grass.

ADAM
Here will we sleep, in Valley of the Lord's Rest.

ADAMA
Father, for darkness of this night, embrace
Thine arms about my neck.

ADAM
Fear not thus rest:
His Angel-stars behold look forth for us!

End of the Second Song

THE THIRD SONG

( Scene : a grove in the Valley of Rest . Afterward, an high desolate Coast. Day dawning)
ADAM. ADAMA
ADAMA
How comfortable to me new Light is;
Wherein I father see again thy looks!

ADAM
God's holy Angel stood by me this night;
And spake of many things, the whiles I slept.
Methought I Adam walked again in Eden,
His Garden; where the Lord's Hand led me forth.

ADAMA
I saw the appearance of an Hand, which us
Leadeth; yester, shadowed in that healing brook!

ADAM
To Thee lift I Heaven Father up my face!

EZRIEL. ADAM. ADAMA
EZRIEL
(proclaims)
The Lord be with you Adam! Know what days
Ye twain, in the two Harisuths, have endured,
The Light and Dark; seven times them to your years,
The Lord your God hath added on the ground;
In that new Land He giveth you to possess.

ADAM
We bless Thee O Lord; we worship in our hearts. (To ADAMA)

Let us go forth before the Lord!

ADAMA
Stay whiles
I dight with these I gathered now, sweet flowers,
That wreathe mine hands, thy locks. With lily chains,
Father I gird thy brows, about thy neck
These hang: but those twain peerless lily-wands,
We wandering forth, will wear them in our hands;
As when in Eden we walked, in the Lord's Garden,
Mongst blissful flowers, to hear the Father's Voice.

CHORUS
Once more made one, the Adam twain pass forth,
In sweet discourse! Somewhiles they sit; to rest,
For yet their limbs be feeble, on green grass,
Under trees' fruitful boughs; whereof they eat:
And strengthened be, in Valley of the Lord's Rest,
Their weary hearts. Much they, on this fair Place,
Gaze; and long fain each one, on other's face.
Finds Adama, where drops honey of the rock;
And of this sweet they taste. The hours pass thus.
But come Sun's ray in heaven's steep, to mid-height;
The brightness of his day is overcast:
Falls now rain, from lowering skies, to low Earth.

ADAMA. EZRIEL. ADAM
ADAMA
Seem the heavens to fall, how darkened is their face!
Lo on these sheltering branches, plash thick drops;
That hiss beyond, on all the leafy grass.
Stream these cold water-cords, from heaven's clear stars?

EZRIEL
His rain it is, that bound the Father's hand,

In clouds, as in a bundle. Goeth no mist,
Up from this earth, to water the land's face.

(Loud Thunder Roars!)
ADAMA
O, in His new hot-heartness, father hide;
Hide we us, from the Lord!

THE VOICE
Dread not, though quake
Earth's dust your feet beneath: was Thunder's Voice,
Under wide firmament, that sunder smote
Moist skies: whence fatness of this Field drops forth.

ADAM
How cometh up as a dew, on our parched hearts,
Of this fallen rain!

ADAMA
What hangeth before His Sun?
Like mighty Bird, with earth-wide spended wings,
Sheen, angel-hewed; else, of some heavenly flowers,
Vast garland seems!

THE VOICE
To Adam token is,

This new birth of the heaven's high sunny mist,
Of the Lord's Grace.

ADAM
Hearken! leap waterbrooks
Down spuming yonder, midst this Valley's rocks:
Drowned lies our further path!

THE VOICE

Cold, shut up, dark,
Is day of the Lord's rain: shall soon again
Shine Sun forth, on large bosom of low Earth.
And know, to your refreshment, also is
This rain: for God once more will prove your hearts,
Whether indeed ye will obey His Voice.

High Field remaineth, that Adam ye must pass;
Which wing not overflies; nor foot of beast
Doth tread; vast Wasteness burned of the Lord's Wrath:
That rent, of old time, from heaven-climbing rocks;
In Mountain-of-the-World, huge, ruined forth;
Whereby now is this Valley of Rest cut off,
From fulness of His Earth; that to you giveth
The Lord, without His Eden, to possess.

To-morrow, as this day, rest; but in the next,
Gather so much, of all the pleasant fruits;

As may, for five days' sustenance, you suffice;
Whereto ye, of green twigs, shall baskets tress;
Like as ye érewhile learned to weave in Eden.

The third Sun risen, these lifted on your heads,
And bearing forth your hands, from yond high craigs,
As I will show you, ye shall journey forth.
Till to that Lord's Land ye arrive, ye naught
May find to eat: but water ye to drink,
Shall find, of this fallen rain, in all your path.

ADAM
How might we, in Harisuth, tread again and live?

THE VOICE
At second dawn, lift Adamu up your feet.
Commit your way to Him: God will send forth
His Cloud, before you, in high desolate Waste.

(Evening falls. Train of swart-flitting night Hours enter above; and after them, come white-winged day-Hours. Those return then; and a second time pass forth.)
CHORUS. ADAM. ADAMA. EZRIEL
CHORUS
It is the night, which starless shrouds Earth's ground,
Before their perilous voyage. By this brook-side,

The Adam gathered sustenance, for five days,
Have weary laid them down to sleep. They twain,
Now slumbering, dream uneasily, in their rest.

ADAMA
(murmuring in her sleep)
Pomegranates have I numbered in ours maunds,
And figs; and plighted twofold, of hard bast,
Soles to our feet: and Adam, with sharp flint,
To stay our steps on, hath prepared, for each,
A staff.

ADAM
Awaken Adama unto our voyage!
That Star is up, which shines before His Sun;
Already new day lightens. When we supped
Have of this night-chill water; we, with cry,
To Heaven Father will part hastily forth.
Till hot noon cometh we shall be able thus
Endure; even in Vast Field of burning thirst.

(Kneeling now the ADAM drink.)
ADAM
So lift we up our burdens and our hearts,
Unto Him, Whose Fingers formed us, of Earth's dust:
Lay thou thine heavy maunds on my neck thus!

(The ADAM spouses pass forth.)

CHORUS
Those twain see mounting painfully now to crown
Of the Lord's Valley of Rest: flame-welling Sun
Riseth against them, that to brow arrive.

ADAM
Lo all before us shining, as a flint!
Swart cragged coast; without or bent or bush.

THE VOICE

Adam, on this Sun-rising, fix your looks;
And know your way, from your right hand, lieth forth.
Two suns must be, from craig to craig, your path.

Come morrow's eve, a Mount, high lifted up,
The Father's Waymark, ye shall see far off:
Which form bears, like unto a camel's bunch!
Mourn not: still to the Father lift your hearts;
And to the Lord's Land, shall ye safely o'erpass:
Till when, ye may no more hear Ezriel's voice.

(The Angel withdraweth from ADAM.)
ADAM. ADAMA
ADAM,
(looking forth and sighing.)
Ah, illimitable desolation is!
Nor beasts have of the Field here any path.

Our knees be feeble: long are the years past,
Of Punishment, in vast Land of weariness,
Of the Lord's Curse, till yester, over us.
Why dost Heaven Father Thou afflict us thus?
We being weary, and when we now had rest,
Each other found; castest Thou of new forth us!

ADAMA
My Spirits be almost spent, ere we part forth.

ADAM
We may not tarry awhile, to take our breaths;
Lest we this day lose reckoning of His Sun.
To yonder rock; (lean Adama on thy staff!)
As Ezriel bade, erst must we forward trace:
Whence looking often back, still looking forth,
From craig to craig, we shall, till evening, pass.

CHORUS
On them that wayfare thus, Sun's eye up-goeth
Still in high heaven, with blinding giddy heat.
None shadow is there; nor may their sliding feet,
(For Satan maketh to slide their feet), find path.

ADAMA
We breathe a flame; we tread on glowing rocks;

How may we endure, until day's ending thus?

ADAM
Already is midday.

ADAMA
Would it now were night!
When, mongst these sharp blind rocks, we might find rest:
Days' drought consumes us. Stands lo, o'er our heads,
Sun's eye! Hath Sun removed out of his place?

ADAM
He walks in brightness, in his circuit thus;
And, like strong reem, seems leap forth on his course. (A Cloud gathers o'er them.)

We bless Thee O Lord, for this Thy shadowing Mist!
And lo nigh hand, His Mercy of the rain,
A pool: there shall we cool our eager thirst.

(Come to the water, the ADAM there somewhile rest: and after that, when the Lord's sheltering Cloud is taken up; they anew tread forth.)
ADAMA
But what and if some evil Spirit with us,
Or beast, meet; of the Lord's high Wilderness?

And surely all beasts, which put God once beneath
Our feet, shall rise up father now against us!
Because for our sake, The Lord cursed the earth.

ADAM
Trust well, hath hemmed them Ezriel from our path.

ADAMA
How might we other days continue thus?
In cragged coast, where now decays our force.

ADAM
His Word stands fast, which promised we should pass.

CHORUS
Is this who wayfares weary, with his wife,
From water unto water; and who least
Of strength, amongst all beasts, is of Earth's face;
He which, High-father shall hereafter named
Be of the World. The Lord determined thus,
When fell, of heaven's high Angels, the third part.

ADAM
I a gleam see now, under yond Westing Sun,
Of water! there we soon shall be refreshed.

(Come to the pool, the ADAM sup and lodge. Night falls.)

(Morrow, upon the high Field of burned craigs.)
CHORUS. ADAM. ADAMA
CHORUS
With feeble heavy limbs and straitened breasts,
They waken: twilight is before the Sun.

ADAMA
Long is the way and sharp!

ADAM
We may not dwell.

ADAMA

Have fretted these wild craigs the soles I wrought;
Be wounded our hurt feet! (They drink; and so hastily depart.)

And must we thus
Still go forth, and return on our faint steps,
To find a path? In some swart cragged pit,
Descend then; whence we hardly outclimbed must set
Again our face, towards further pathless coast.
Field all of horror, dark astonishment;
Inextricable, unending, hideous rocks!

Yet greater grows Sun's heat, like lightning seem
His looks: now heaven's clear firmament seems wide flame.

Seest not thou O father, that of stature art,
As a tall palm, nigh-shadowing of some cliff?
Where, like as sheep, in hour of midday heat,
Wont hang their craigs, we also O Adamu might
Shelter the while our sun-scourged stricken pates.
O for those broad cool sappy leaves of Eden!
Wherewith we wont dight chapelets for our heads:
Or might we aught shadowing branch bear, in our hands.

ADAM
I water see, neath craig-stone, not far off;
Yet lest, ere we reach thither, faint thine heart
Eat Adama, ah somewhat of our basket, eat!

(Setting down his maund, ADAM giveth her a piece of a pomegranate and an honeycomb to eat.)
ADAM

Under thy shoulders, so mine hands I set:
Tread with me, and I with thine will match my steps.
And when Beloved thou shalt be weary thus;
Twine thou thine other arm, about my neck.

We draw nigh now to water; where behold
Gathers again the Father's sheltering cloud.

(Come thither, they rest and are refreshed.)

ADAMA
How good is the Lord's shadowing Cloud: what craigs
We tread on!

ADAM
Tender be thy feet; my flesh
Is hard and tough: this waste high wilderness
All only is of blind empty glowing craigs!

ADAMA
Nor spires, in all this Coast, a freshing breath.

ADAM
But see, is taken up that sheltering Mist:
Nor may we longer tarry, but part forth.

ADAMA
Under our faltering knees, must these frayed feet
Return so soon to tread, on glowing rocks!

ADAM
Shall not long day's heat, at each step, be less?
Nigh is the evening cool.

(They anew set forward.)
ADAMA
Twixt the two heats,
Of heaven's wide-flaming and these sun-drenched rocks,

Sloughs the scorched skin from off our dried-up flesh;
My face, these hands, my neck, our shins, our feet.

ADAM

I O Adama climb, to look forth from this craig.
I do behold three-headed beacon Mount!
And form much like thy camel's bunch which hath:
Mount, that the Father's Hand, midst His fair Earth,
Set up for waymark: seest thou not yet this?
And hewed; for thereon spread His evening is,
Like to those budded roses of the Garden,
Which twined, with bowering boughs, round our rest-place.
Aye and I a water-pool see nigh our path.

Come let us chant, whilst grow out of these rocks,
Night-shadows, and be strengthened now our steps;
One of the hymns, entuned to heavenly note,
(Which we wont hear of Angels;) and to voice
Of blissful birds and harmony of clear brooks,
And murmur of sweet bees, in the Lord's Garden;
Wherewith we did make glad our lifted hearts.

(They sing.)

When even falls, be Lord not far from us.

Cover us, with thy wings, in that we sleep.
When we awaken, Father send to us
Thine holy Voice; that might our flesh-steeped spirits,
O All-Highest in heaven! return with Thee to speak.

(Now, after the Sun, the ADAM come to a water; where hey weary rest. Dark train of night-Hours enter, and slowly then those pass forth.)
ADAMA
(twixt wake and sleep)
How might we, in so long way of the Lord's path,
Still wayfare halting on our sore bruised feet?
O for my foster-beast! Out of some cliff,
Would that the Lord God, which can all-thing make,
My camel would raise up; whence riding forth,
We might shut our scorched eyelids, and give peace,
In that we journey, to these weary hearts!

CHORUS

Should lighten now the morn: but dark-winged Spirits
Fly, infinite multitude. With wind-rushing flight,
As swallows, stoop those hither. They from loft
Flock, to view God's new Creature, on Mid-Earth;
Souls clad in clay corruptible, as beasts' flesh!

Waken Adamu! But the heavens yet give no light:
Cloud closes in of darkness, this waste place;
And shrouds that stony coast beyond, where lies
Their further path, o'er to the Field of God!
I tremble, as in day when void Earth was,
Nor yet appeared wide covert firmament;
Nor stars were named. I war saw moved in heaven,
And Hell dread dragon fell forth, with his powers;
Whom Merodach, Angel of the Helm of Light,
Discomfited, and him wounded in deep airs!

ADAM. ADAMA
ADAM
Is anger gone forth gainst us from the Lord!

ADAMA
Woe is me! Ah what is that thou father seest?

ADAM
So holden be thine eyes! thou yet not seest
Bright-winged ones, that with derne-winged rushing Spirits;
Like tongues being, in the rest, of flames of Harisuth,
Contend for our twain souls? which given have place;
For that not right to God-ward were our hearts,
To the Evil; whence this terror is come nigh us!

(ADAM fallen, for fear, swoons upon his face.)

CHORUS

FIRST PART

The Ruler hath of Darkness sent his powers;
Which baleful shadows cast forth, on this ground.
What shall we do, abide?

SECOND PART

We will, aye and watch!

FIRST PART

If they, which more in number, should prevail;
Shall not we flee forth to the windy loft;
Or enter in brute rocks; else shall we stoop,
Through dark salt-streaming billows, to sea's ground?

ALL THE CHORUS
We may look back: we cannot gaze far forth.
What though we fear, we will abide and watch.
After the seas were gathered to one place,
And lighted God the Sun, and Moon sent forth;
When the dry land appeared, clothed with green grass;
He Life's seed made; whence filléd have all the Earth

Fowl, fishes, beasts. How weak man's substance is;
That liveth, by daily meat, as a beast's flesh;
Else his clay breathing being were brought to naught.

ADAM
(risen to pray.)
Wilt not Thou, Lord, Heaven Father, hear from hence?
That heardest Thy Creature's sighing bitter voice,
From Sarsar: wilt Thou Almighty strive with flesh?

CHORUS
Lord, open the Man's eyes, that he see nigh,
Which cometh, Thy Salvation in the air!

ADAM. ADAMA. CHORUS
ADAM
Angels of strength and succour, I, (O Light,
O heavens, O Earth!) I do behold arrive!
By whom those spirits perverse be put to flight.
O joy, where darkness was, now Sun breaks forth!
Lift Adama O up thy face, we yet shall live!
I see again that beacon Mount far-off!

ADAMA
There is a light, O Adam, on thy looks;

As when talked Angels with thee in the Garden.
But haste we, O father haste we, hence part forth:
How terrible is this place!

ADAM
Now lateward is
This day; forweary O Helpmate be our hearts,
And moonless is night-hour, that cometh. We may not,
Till dawn, Beloved, remove from this dread place.

NIGHT
CHORUS
The Adam laid down now their aching heads;
But not soon falls, for tumult of their spirits,
The dew on them of sleep, of kindly rest.

ADAM. ADAMA
ADAMA
(waking uneasily, after midnight)
I might not sleep, for aching weariness.
Of hard sharp craig-stone, under this bruised flank.
O neath heaven's high clear stars, how it is cold!

ADAM
(risen before the day, prayeth)
Look on me, Ah Lord from heaven; and I shall live,

That am but clay; and breath therein which passeth.
The prayer of these my lifted hands, reject not!
Is not Lord Thine the inhabitable coast,
Where we would be, Heaven Father of Earth's face?
Lord, is not only of Thee all Power and Force?
Be Thou mine Helper! Out of these vast rocks,
Send Lord and save us; wherein lieth no path,
Of all that move beside us, in the Earth. (To ADAMA.)

Lo, is our way-star risen, that climbs wide heaven!
Let us be going; now springeth a little light.

ADAMA
I am so weary, I can uneath sit up:
I would it aye were night.

ADAM
(giving her fruits.)
But rouse thee, and eat,
I pray thee, a mouthful of these fruits; so sup
We of this night-chill water, and part forth.

ADAMA
Languish my knees.

(She riseth up wearily.)

ADAM
Lean on me, and on thy staff:
So lift, (I do sustain thy feeble steps,)
With mine, thy foot.

ADAMA
Hath God forsaken us?

CHORUS
They journey; and she trains hardly her tottering knees.
Hark, his lips Adam opens, with mild voice.

ADAM

Methinks, to call the days to mind wherein,
In Eden's Garden, we conversed with Angels,
Were solace, in much heaviness of our hearts.

When I awaking saw thee O Adama like
Hewed to fair blossom, in thy living flesh;
Thine eyes as Stars; and sunbright thy long locks;
And like sweet-smelling fruits, was the life's breath,
Of thy warm lips; howbe thy stature raught not
Yet to my midst: O what a joy was it,
To look in the Lord's Garden, on my like.
And with a kindling ray of arcane love,
On mine, thy wondering pupils looked again.

I smiled, for was fulfilled mine heart of bliss.

Thou smiledst, thou also laughed: I laughed to God.
Mine hand then I put forth: I raised thee up.
I called to Angels, that I heard sing praises,
Us round above: howbeit I understood not
Their hymns, save only in part; for they are Spirits.
And those, on blissful wings, heard Adam's voice,
Descended from on height. I marvelling asked,
What thing were this; and yesterday which was not?
Had God another Adam formed in Eden!

Then bright-faced Phanuel, of the blessed Angels;
He that was wont, folding his august wings,
To walk with fleshling Adam, in the Garden,
As friend with friend; responded wast thou Woman;
Whom, in my deep sleep, had the Father's Hand
Taken from my mingled clay, this breathing being,
In marvellous wise: and building thee like Adam,
Had closed the Lord God up my flesh again!

I asked thee of thy name: thou answeredst naught;
For couldst thou not yet speak: I led thee forth.
Words, names as we twain walked, to thee I taught;
And couldst thou soon name Adam. Thee I brought,
When midday was, to that my bower of rest,
Which tressed green boughs, with twining roses made;

Where Gihon flows down sheen midst Eden's Garden.

I looking, in thine eyes, thee O Adama I loved!
That gazed so inwardly on mine; beheld
Thy form I, as beauty of palm-stem in the Eden,
Neath those thy long long locks, fair as sunstreams.
And sith I thee Beloved anew led forth,
Thine hand as now in mine, till afternoon,
In blissful lawns; where sweetness most of flowers.

I showed thee the Lord's beasts, and wing-bright birds,
Of heaven; whose chant did, mongst sheen leafy boughs,
Ring in our ears. And towards now evening was,
When heard we, amidst His Garden, the Lord's Voice,
Calling me Adam! Then to that pure Place
I brought thee; whereas, with mine eyes of flesh,
I wont see God! when pleased it, Face to face,
The Lord to talk with Adam. All green trees,
Seemed vail around their crowns, at the Lord's Voice.
Amidst His Glory, kneeling on our knees,
Thee Adama I did, before the Lord, present.

Then was God blessed us: Heaven Father laid
His Infinite Hands, on our twain bowed-down heads!

But twilight past, when dim night soon it was,
Fell slumbering dew upon us, where we sate;
And girded of each other's arms, we slept,
Under Heaven Father's Wings. Seemed cover us,
His Children, the Lord's Feathers, whiles we slept.

And when we waked, white morn was in the Eden;
Where fowls' sweet early voice had raised us up.
Then whilst I lifted to the Lord, my face;
Like gentle bird on spray, midst the sheen leaves,
Thou hither thither leap'dst, on thy winged feet,
To pluck thee of all fair flowers; wherewith thou filledst,
That lilies likewise seemed, thine happy hands.
Thou didst, as taught of God, then garlands bind;
And with sweet blossoms, wreathedst both our brows;
In that thou framedst, with thy lips of sweet sound,
After me Adam, all the words I spake.

But saw not yet thine eyes, as mine, far off.
Then I, discern the blessed Angels taught
Thee: taught thine ears to hear the heavenly voices:
So that, mongst high empyrian harmonies,
Our happy spirits seemed lifted from the dust.

But when fulfilled a month of days was thus;
And I unto my labour, which Heaven Father

Me gave, to keep His Garden, in the Eden,
Returned, mine Helpmate thou beside me wast,
The whiles I wrought; and thou me followedst forth.
What joy of heart then to me Adam was,
To hear words, of thy lips, that I thee taught;
And know, like unto mine, thy soul therein!

And when thou Adama pluckedst our midday meat;
Of all the best, as came into our thought,
We cast, our souls' thank-offering, to Lord God,
With flowers in, streaming sheen, large Gihon's flood.

And full was of the aspect of the Lord,
Each blissful Place: and eve of each day was
And morrow thus, in Eden, the Lord's Garden.

ADAMA
Father, mine ears have waited on thy lips,
Wherein breathéd Heaven Father of His Spirit.
Thy words seemed lift forth these dull sole-beat feet.

End of the Third Song.

THE FOURTH SONG

CHORUS

Somewhile is Adam silent, who upholds
Still Adama: but come tide of midday heat;
Nor gathers this day the Lord's shadowing Cloud;
As in a trance he goeth; long only wont
To sunless whirling blast of Harisuth's coast.

As some tall poplar reels, in tempest blast,
He staggers, his feet slide; falls Adam forth!
Fallen in this dazing Sun, ah, on his face,
The Man astonished lies: and like as vine
Fails, when her prop is broken, Adama sinks
So languishing lo down by him, mourning Wife.

ADAMA. ADAM
ADAMA
(sighing)
Sun-stricken, sore-bruised, long travailled, Sarsar-tossed,
Thou father dieth: we perish, without path,
In this huge cumber, of blind direful rocks!

ADAM
(wandering in his sense)
Mine head, mine head! I saw His Sun not thus,
In all dim Harisuth, Land of the Lord's Curse.
O for those cloud-hills, dropping dew, of Eden!
O for cool water-channels I led round
About His pleasant plants; causing the Earth
To yield her tender bud, and slips shoot forth;
Which I, in ridges of my furrows set;
And where I shaped, and watered with my foot,
My seed-pans. O for those cool bubbling brinks:
O for a draught of Gihon!

ADAMA
O that might
Gather now covert of the Father's Cloud,
Over our heads, over our fainting heads!
And drop down water, to appease our thirst.

CHORUS
Her eyes be opened; she sees where, in cleft,
Is caught a little water not far off.
She on her knees trains thither and hurt feet;
That so sharp pathless craigs, have trod uneath. (ADAMA returns.)

I dripping water see, from her knit palms.

ADAMA
This water have I fetched, in my two hands:
Awaken, O Adamu father, drink and live!
Sits shadow on Adam's eyelids, ah of death!
Though open be his teeth, he answereth naught:
Ah, is spilled this water, on his dying face!

CHORUS
The weeping weary woman went again,
With more returns. In part revived now, Adam
Sits up lo, and suppeth this water of her hands.

ADAM
(in his delirium)
Were not we come to Valley of the Lord's Rest?
O bring me, I pray thee, of those pleasant fruits;
That might we eat together, and give thanks.

CHORUS

Sad Adama seeketh all vainly for their maunds;
Nor wots she, fallen from fainting Adam's nape,
Those lie far backward, in waste Wilderness.
That little basket only Adama hath,
Wherein, her wifely thrift, sweet-smelling herbs,
Myrrh, aloes, cedar-leaves, her hand bare forth.
Now haply in this she finds few fruits and nuts;

These brings she; and ministers them her hand to Adam.
He out of mémory eats, till is nothing left!

Laid down again, swoons Ádamu in the shrill Sun,
Which ever forth removes; nor him draw back,
To shadowing cliff, can Adama's feeble force.

ADAMA
Enough, and Lord Heaven Father, Thou save Adam:
That canst Thou another Adama to him give!

CHORUS
Last drinks she, and lays her down to die by Adam.
Is even: they twain déadly drowse. Night falls.

ADAMA
(reviving)
Tart is this cold and cutting as the flint!
Out of steep Night, the Stars of God hang forth,
Like fruits from Summer boughs, in the dim groves.
We Father see Thy Stars! seest not Thou us? (Touching him.)

Is cold (his sighing ceased!) the father's flesh:
Here laid in frost; and hardly he draws now breath.
To cover him, Adamu shall have my long locks.
I will me lay up to him, in the cold.

Aye me, hath us led forth, an heavenly Voice,
That God might slay us, in dread wilderness coast?

(Train of tardy-wingéd swart night-Hours enter from above; and, one after other, those hover forth.)
CHORUS. ADAM
CHORUS
This fifth day lightens, rushing from the East;
Past is the cold night-season's bitterness.
Lo wakens the Lord's Adam: he sitteth up.
Revived he is; but Adama only sigheth;
And cannot more be roused from the dead sleep.

ADAM
(stretching his limbs)

I wake from sleep: much have I prayed in sleep;
Much dreamed. O waken up Adama, to our voyage!
Arise. Sun cometh lo forth, with fervent heat.
Might we till eve hold way, o'er these blind craigs,
We shall be saved. So mate be'st thou, alas,
Thou canst not rise! Canst not thou O Adama wake? (He prays.)

Give Father, this one day, to Adam strength;
That I might her, whom gavest Thou me to Wife,

In Eden, from this baleful Waste, bear forth!
Remember, we have naught at all to eat:
Sun suppeth up the pools. This day Lord faileth
Even water, in our desolate path: and that
Is left breeds worms, and is infect and stinketh.

(ADAM lifts her, so that she sits up.)

Sun cometh forth horned, and bearded be his looks.
Is token of fervent heat! How daze alas,
Her eyes, and loose their star-sheen wonted light.

(Now he lifts her, in his arms.)
CHORUS
He, in that he lifts her, hath perceived the water.
Bears Adam his wife thither, with swift steps!
But in her stupor Adama only sigheth.
She cannot drink. He drencheth his wife's locks;
Lo and thickly upon the crown of her dear head,
Wreathes he; and all so down on her white nape:
Shelter from burdenous thrilling bitter heat;
(This tempest of Sun's rays!) to living flesh.

ADAM
(lifting her anew in his arms)
I, in my bosom, bear thee, on this breast,
Whence wast thou taken: so lean, my neck embrace. (ADAMA sigheth, but she cannot speak.)

What though my knees sore languish, and this chest
So pant; will I, as God shall give me strength,
In Whom I trust, contend I a living flesh,
Come forth, from this immane high desolate Waste,
To that good Land the Lord's Voice promised us;
Which showeth yond Mountain waymark, yet far off.

CHORUS

Lo, World's high Father, in this extreme coast;
Bearing now heavy laden, hardly in life,
Forth Adama; ordering his alternate steps!
He labours strongly on, towards that beacon Mount.

From hour to hour, Sun's heat aye more increaseth;
This dizzy withering heat. The man still strives,
Tottering his knees, all trembling now his flesh,
Under sore burden, in stiff arms, embraced;
Till dazing mid-day sits, in heaven's height.

But ah now spouteth thick wárm salt living blood,
From the man's nostrils! Faltering stayeth him Adam:
He him agonízing leaneth up to cliff-craig!
He an hand réacheth fórth, which lo a stone uptaketh;
To stanch, to purge that stain ah, of drizzling gore,
Which so fast falleth on his own breast, and her.

(ADAM, with weary voice)

Red stream! ah, fountain of my Life, brasts forth!
As when, in channels of my watercourses,
Some sand-head burst: split seems mine heart! and these
Twain arms nigh, from their sockets, be outrent.
So weary is my flesh, that strength uneath
Remaineth, lay this dear sighing burden down;
Lest I with her together fall in one,
Fall and not rise: and now I can no more!

(The CHORUS come forth, looking to heaven, with lifting wings; and part covering their faces, they bow their knees and pray:)
CHORUS
Beseech Thee, All-Holy, that this fleshling Adam;
Whom mad'st Thou lately All-Father, on earth's ground,
A little lower than Thy deathless Angels;
All-Pitiful, O All-Merciful, might not perish,
This day, as some lost beast in Wilderness!

ADAM
(In beholding that heavenly cloud gather anew over them)
I thank Thee, O Lord, for shadowing of this cloud;

Wherein I now recover strength; which doth
Even as I Adam labour forth, remove:
Eigh, and what though crack my sinews; what though burst
My thirsty veins, I durst not tarry where
Nor water is, nor aught in high waste coast,
That might our fainting souls refresh. Bowed thus
(Like yond Helál, that shines before my face,
Now ready to go down; and like as wade
The swans in Gihon,) fainting on this staff,
Must Adam trace. Ah, thick as the endless skies (He makes forward.)

Of heaven aloft, be these swart craigs beneath;
That bleed, like crooked claws of some fell beast,
To-day, of my rent flesh, where I do pass.
These sun-chapped now parched lips, which Thou createdst;
Lord, (though towards Thy high Throne, yet I look up;)
To frame Thine Holy Name, have no more breath!

(ADAM groans to heaven.)
CHORUS
Behold that front of clay, which Adam lifteth,

Is noble; though blind falling-thick sweat drops,
His God-like looks. With vehement long effort,
Lo, of faithful hardy heart, the Man surmounteth
Last cragged brow; and nigh now border seeth,
Before his sufferant footpace, of green earth.

ADAM

High heavenly Grace! Ah, and might I few more steps;
We both were saved, out of these hideous rocks,
Whose horrid flank begin my feet to pass:
Lord now, now, for Thy Mercy! I from them pass!

(A dove alighteth upon Adam.)

By this, I know, that in a Land of God,
I tread; that Lord's fair Field He promised us.
Meseems, see these scorched pupils trees and grass!

Ar., Heb. and antique (Babylonish) Semitic; the New Moon.

CHORUS. EZRIEL. ADAM
CHORUS
The Man hears voice of Ezriel, the Lord's Angel,
Recomforting him from heaven; his loins receive
New force. Sustains an hand divine, unseen,
This groaning burdened Adam; and leads in.
Adama has ceased from sighing: she revives

Lo and smiles, in Adam's arms. More lightly he bears
His Wife now forth. Hark, he lifts up his Voice!

ADAM
Father, I thirst!

THE VOICE
With labour, must ye drink.

ADAM
Lord, Lord, I cannot break this clodded earth;
Nor here to hew me delving instrument,
Is flint: and weary our souls be to the death.

THE VOICE
Dig thou, with that is in thine hand, thy staff!

CHORUS
Neath palm-stem, which grows sole, in this void place,
He setteth down softly Adama, his loved Wife.

ADAM
I see where hath flowed water; but dried up
The eye is of this furrow. I perceive
As sent of water; and blows laurer-rose
Here and sweet mint, amongst the pebble stones. (To Adama).

Whiles I kneel to my labour, Adama lean,

In the Lord's Lánd; couch thee, on this fresh grass;
Till I to thee fetch water, in this thirst.

CHORUS
Stoutly delves travaillous Adamu, with his staff;
Cast his scorched hands out sand and stones and earth.
Moisture he finds: vein wells, in his digged pit,
Up now, of smooth cool water. He, in his
Two knit palms, thereof bears, to thirsting Adama!

ADAM
Sup of this water: and lie lo, nigh hand,
Melons of pleasant gourd! This stem of palms
Hath sweet ripe dates also, of Eden kind.

CHORUS
Those drink; and World's high-father, forged sharp stone,
That delving found his hands, openeth cool melon:
And of the freshing shives, with dates, they eat.
On them, that all forweary, unto that palm
Stem lean them, riseth now cool evening breath.

ADAMA
Straight, neath these wafting boughs, O let us sleep!

ADAM
Leaned with me, sleep; I may not longer wake!

(They slumber. Night crowned with stars entereth, with her train of dark Hours; which pass slowly forth. Then a new day springeth.)
CHORUS. EZRIEL. ADAM
CHORUS
The Adam waken now, in Land of God,
All weary: he lifting his right hand, giveth thanks.

ADAM
My rest is, to draw nigh to Thee, Lord God!

EZRIEL'S VOICE
The Lord be with you Adam.

ADAM
Heavenly One!
That dost prevent the Mornings' Wings, thy Voice
Assurance is to Adam, in this Place;
Where languisheth very sore, our vext scorched flesh.

THE VOICE
I bring thee Blessing from on High; look up!

ADAM
Lord I behold, betwixt two equal cliffs,
A gate!

THE VOICE
Earth's Gate: there tarry not to pass.

ADAM
Ah Lord, I see two Cherubim sit thereat;
And very terrible is their countenance.

THE VOICE
But when ye shall have washed and bound your hurts,
With healing leaves, and lifted up your hearts;
Doubt not to enter Gate of the Lord's Earth.

CHORUS

The weary Adam kneeling, bend their stiff
Scorched joints, to wash them: now with leaves they bind
Which Ezriel showed them, where they slept, their wounds.

How bowed be their tall bodies, as they rise,
For faintness! those behold now passing forth,
Towards Gate of the Lord's Land, Earth's Field, and ward
Of Cherubim, mighty upbearers of His Throne,

When bove the winds He rides, among the Stars.
There faint, fearing to see God's Face! their hearts.

ADAM
High silent Ones; how aweful be their looks!
Full all of eyes whose foreheads, as steep Night;
That seem, as we draw nigh, gaze on our hearts.
The Glory of the Most Highest, upon them rests!
A trembling taketh hold, upon my reins;
In that their stretched-out wings, whose sound is like
Voice of the Highest, I deathling Adam pass.

CHORUS
Veiling their faces, with their hands, those pass.
They issue forth beyond. Gin now their feet
To enter fruit-trees' grove of the Lord's Earth.

EZRIEL
Comfort your hearts: and under these fresh boughs,
Where Adam ye arrive, abide and rest;
Till healéd be your flesh; and freely eat
Ye of all fruits herein, which to the taste,
Be sweet; howbeit fruits of Earth's Field without
Be not as the delectable fruits in Eden:
And shadowing, by clear well-springs, cool your thirst.

(A Spring Month, bearing a green leaf-branch; and in whose chapelet, of leaves and flowers, a shining Moon is set; passeth by above.)

Plur. form of Kerub from a root in antique Semitic, Heb. and Ar. implying nearness (and namely, to the divine Presence).

CHORUS. ADAM. EZRIEL
CHORUS
Those twain have sojourned now, a month of days,
In the Lord's Grove; where of an healing fruit,
Which Ezriel showed them, they did daily eat.

ADAM
(lifting his hand to heaven)
We thank Thee O Lord, that we recover strength!
The sun-chapped skin, which flayed from off our flesh;
That each seemed ragged, in the other's sight,
As in spring-time the ewes, renewéd now is.

THE VOICE
When Adam, Son of God, the morrow's Sun
Ariseth sheen, lift up anew your feet:
And in the Lord's Field, shall ye wayfare forth;
Wide Field, which lieth without the former Eden.
Come the third day, from thence shall ye go up,
Into high Mountain of His frankincense;
The same whose horn your beacon, in waste craigs,

Was of that desolate Coast. Ye to the Lord,
Thereon shall offer up your gift of gladness,
Which I will show you: and ye thence surview
Shall compass of green Ground. Yet thither, ere
Thou comest, the Valley of Vision ye must pass;
Where thy purged eyes thy Children shall behold,
Fruit of you twain; and Morning of the World.

CHORUS
Like as the infinite other kinds of flesh,
Which formed the Lord before them, on Earth's face,
Shall Adam be increased: but the Man's sons,
Which shall live after him, before the Lord,
That whisper working, of Almighty Breath,
Which in them; shall find many hidden paths,
Of knowledge; so far forth as fleshly sense,
In darkness may devise, of this low Earth,
Whose sunlight day is as an heaven's Night.

(Night falls. The star-crowned swart Hours enter and pass forth: then new day appeareth.)
CHORUS

Behold the Adam risen, on whom His Spirit
So cometh, that in the Vision they of God,
Fare fasting forth: on heaven, their looks be fixt,

Earth's Field, whereas the soles tread of their feet,
They see not: so be ravished their twin hearts;
Which silent commune, with God's holy Angels!
That fly in lowest circuit of the Light
Celestial, Heavenly Knowledge; and leads Ezriel,
Behold, still daylong forth, their wavering steps.

But is not Time for us, who deathless Spirits.
Is not one day of heaven, of the Right Hand
Of the Most High, like as the going forth
Of hundred years on Ground? Whiles I spake thus,
Even as I looked, is little hour of Earth,
From morn lo till the evening red, passed forth!

The Adam twain, went until Even-star,
Come weary now to water; where they rest.

EZRIEL. ADAM
THE VOICE
Hail Adam!

ADAM
Lord, we worship in the dust;
We that were dust.

THE VOICE
Lift Adam up thy looks!
What seest thou shadowed, in wide firmament?

Like as when gazing on some water's face,
Thou therein lively image of the Earth
Beholdest.

ADAM
I see a multitude that stand upright,
Amongst all living things of the Lord's Field.

EZRIEL
Those be the generations of thy Sons;
That shall be in multitude, as the leaves of grass.
But what now seest thou Adam, in thy Vision?

ADAM
I, O Lord, behold men walking, amidst palms,
And mongst green groves; where some ones builded bowers,
Like caves, have with their hands, on the Earth's mould:
Men enter in them, other issue forth.

EZRIEL
Are houses of heaped clay, that shall thy Sons
Timber them, in Earth's Plain. What seest now Adam?

ADAM
Men-sons as emmets, moving multitude.

THE VOICE
This also is their labour on the Ground.
But what now seest thou Adam?

ADAM
Ah, ah, Lord,
I see, in bands, Lord God! men with men, strive:
As yester we the murmuring honey-flies
Have seen, mongst the wild cliffs, for their sweet nests:
And full of teen, were their vext little breasts!
Ah, and beat those down each other, to the ground!
And blood is on their staves, ah and sharp flint stones!
But Lord! when shall these things be?

EZRIEL
When thy Seed,
Forgate the Hand which made them, shall forsake
The paths of Peace. Shall their strewed carcases,
As dung on the Lord's Field, pollute the Land:
Aye, and thy soul Adam also shall be pierced.

ADAM
Ah, and what and if Lord God my Punishment was,
Be cast out from the Eden; what alas
Shall rendered be to such, of the Lord's Hand?

THE VOICE

Among them shall the Righteous be oppressed;
Whose cry shall come up, in His infinite Ears.
Then God His Angels of the Seven Tempests,
Will send forth; which shall bring on the Earth-world,
Wide whelming Flood; and drown His fruitful Field.

Yet, in that dread day, from one side of heaven,
To another, shall not all men utterly perish:
Shall in that vast distempered mould, be found
Some saved, a sacred seed, on floating wood:
Souls, that for their lives' righteousness, on Earth's ground,
Wherein they walked with God, shall not see death;
But be translated to eternal seats,
Beyond the Rivers: for whose sake, the Lord
Will also not again destroy the World,
By water: but on wicked men, shall send
Famine and pestilence, and sharp teeth of beasts.
A Vision Adam now behold of Peace!
Lift up thy looks.

ADAM
I see I know not what!

THE VOICE
Thou seest in heaven some Blessed shining Ones,
That build the habitations of the Just.
And, what yet seest thou Adam?

ADAM
I behold
Men singing, and wives clapping their white hands,
Amongst the vines; whereas, on shoulders, some
Bear clusters forth in baskets, of ripe grapes.
Other I see, which under fruitful boughs,
In circuit sit: where crowned with leaves, those eat;
And with loud voice, shout for the Summer fruits!
Other, where harvest is, crop yellow ears;
And do, with songs, before the Lord, rejoice.

THE VOICE
What seest thou Adamu?

ADAM

Lord, mine eyes behold
A man and woman, Children of God's Breath;
With many clothed all gloriously, like as Earth's
Fair springing mead; and carolling them around,

Young men, in reeds blow; others bear as staves
Of fire on high forth, in their joyous hands!

There I a father old behold, and crowned
His head with flowers; who tied now their long locks
Together hath; and with fair garlands bound,
Of lilies, their twain bodies; as in sign,
That henceforth those be one; as we are one,
I and my Wife. Now, in his reverend hands,
They join with joy, their hands.

EZRIEL

Are spouses those:
And therein be they blessed of the Lord.
And they are of the number of thy Sons:
And shall, of kindly love, be their increase.

But now what wouldst thou, O Adam? ask a Gift,
A Blessing, at God's Hands.

ADAM
I will not ask,
Angel of God, in blindness of mine heart.
And yet vouchsafe, Lord if must Adam ask;
That pass the lives' taint from us of this flesh.

THE VOICE
That shall be, but not now: shall, at the last,
As lilies, rise your bodies, from Earth's dust;
To dwell, in heavenly places, without cease.

End of the Fourth Song

THE FIFTH SONG

(Morrow in the Valley of Vision. The ADAM rise from Sleep)
ADAM
I saw the Rock of heaven: I heard, in dream,
This night, an Holy One, which talked with Adam,
Saying, Get ye up to offer in the Mount,
That thing which I shall show you. It your Gift
Shall be of gladness, to the Lord, which hath
Preserved you hitherto, in all your paths:
Wherefore let us, from hence, lift up our feet.

(They depart.)
CHORUS

The Lord, stretched forth His Hand, on Adam laid
Hand, which erewhile rebellious Angels smote,
Brief Punishment. But past now last desolate Coast,
Again, in pleasant Field, those wander forth.

Lo they arrive, before that Mountain foot;

Which leans to heaven, of the Lord's frankincense:
Where come to water, they awhile will rest.

ADAM. ADAMA
ADAM
Let us go up, beside this glittering brook,
That slideth down to the Plain, with hasting foot;
To gather the Lord's Gift. Sweet balm it is,
That stills from trees, in height of yonder Coast.

ADAMA
How breathes down thence on us, as Eden's breath!

(ADAMA weeps.)
ADAM
Weep not beloved; the Lord doth comfort us.

(They begin to ascend.)
ADAM
(praying in that they approach)

Lord, here more nigh Thy Throne, would Adam dwell:
And should her feast of praise, my fasting soul,
Continually, in this holy height, pour forth. (To his Wife.)

But come now Adama up our feet, whereas
That thing of sweetness, the tree-tears thou seest

That sweat, like dew-drops, from these rinded boughs:
Which the Lord's Voice, now speaking, in my breast,
From heaven, called liban, for it hoary is.

Erst basket, of green rushes of the brook,
Here must we tress; wherein to gather sith,
That precious thing of the Lord's hill. Here is
Water, to rinse our hands; our feet to wash,
From dust.

(They plait now their maund.)
ADAM
So wend we, gathering sacred liban.

(They both fill now their basket, with the sweet resin.)
ADAM
Upon this stone, which yester Ezriel showed me,
White-shining, midst this Mountain, afar off;
Pour we our Gift, before the Father, forth!

(They do so.)

The like in Heb. and Ar.; from a root signifying whiteness.

EZRIEL. ADAM. ADAMA
THE VOICE
Withdraw ye a little, from this place, your feet!

(As they go backward, fire flameth from the rock.)

ADAMA
New wonder of the Lord, a flame, like lightning!
Not fallen from heaven: wherein, in rolling thick
Sweet vapour, which ascends and seems a cloud;
Our liban is consumed.

THE VOICE

The Lord your God
Accepted hath your Gift. From hence look forth!
Earth's Field behold; fair valleys and green hills,
Which giveth to you the Father to possess;
And to the souls that be in you, your sons:
Replenish and subdue it. From henceforth,
Shall teach you also Judgment your own hearts;
Until unto the dust revert your flesh;
Whence it was taken. Be not cast down, for this:
I will enable you, All-Fáther saith.

And God hath given to you, of kine the milk,
And ewes; and shall ye clothe you, with their fleece:
And subject shall to Adam be all beasts.

ADAM
We worship Lord before Thee, in this dust,
We which were dust, in darkness of the Earth.
Yet might I question with thee, as I gaze:

What gleaming, as New Moon, doth Ezriel hem
Earth's borders till yond utmost of my seeing;
Where bent seems stoop of heaven's clear firmament?

THE VOICE

Thou Sea-flood seest; which Earth-plain closes in;
And was, ere that from Têhom, watery great
Abysm, the Lord, Which said Be! and it was,
Called Earth-mire forth: and it became dry land,
Under His Sun: at erst, vast thicket Field
Of flags, tall tamarisks and of fenny reeds:
And called it the Lord Earth. But evening is
And ye are flesh; wherefore seek Adam forth
Some meat; ere setting Sun, and break your fasts.

And ye shall lodge to-night in the Lord's grove,
Mongst the sweet trees. To-morrow, as ye tread down,
By covert of this hill, to lowly Plain;
Shall Adama gather, in her basket, liban,
The quantity of an handful, in your path:
That when the Lord God shall have given you rest,
In Land whither you go, it to possess;
With fire, which I will show you, ye might burn
This thing, for a sweet odour, in your house.

Heb. Tehom, (in Gen. 1. 2:) the same as antique Babylonish Tiam(at), the Mother Deep.

ADAM. ADAMA
ADAMA
(bringing fruits)
These raisins ripe I found, in yond cliff-craigs;
These figs I pluckt, beside the stony brook.

(And now, when they sit to dine; there soundeth an heavenly fleeting Music aloft, in their happy ears.)
ADAMA
O that might hence my sense hear chant of Angels;
As when together sang the Morning Stars;
And shouted all for joy, the Sons of God;
What day laid God foundation of the World.

(The skies are withdrawn, as curtains: and immortal Voice is heard above of heavenly Host, in a circuit of celestial radiance.)
VOICE OF ANGELS

Holy, Holy, Holy, in the Height!
Father of All, without end, we before
The footstool of the Excellency of the Glory,
Lord, of Thine Infinite Majesty, lowly fall.
All-Power, All-Light, All-Life, All-Being, All-Breath;

Which fillest the Heaven and Earth and Depth beneath!

For ever and for ever is Thy Throne,
Among the Stars. To do Thy Will, we come;
We ready áre, O Lord, All-God, Most Highest!
O Elyon, Elyon, Elyon, hear Thou us!

We come, to do Thy Will: send Lord Thou us!
We adore, we worship Thee, O Lord of Hosts.
We come, we ready are: Lord God send us!
To do Thine everlasting Will, send us
Forth, in All-Kingdom of Thy wondrous Works!

O sing we a new Song! Proclaim, Proclaim!
Bless ye the Lord, Praise we His Holy Name.
Long-suffering, Gracious, Merciful, is His Name!
For ever and for ever: the great King
Of Glory. O Praise Him, in the Heights and Depths.

ADAM
And we to-day, which the Lord's great Earth-field
Beheld, this evening likewise will rejoice!

(The night falleth: then the Adam slumber.)
CHORUS

Now smites first morning ray, on these white cliffs,
Wakening the Adam. They, from dream of sleep;
Wherein them seemed to walk again in Eden,
Rise: and on Adam falls prophetic breath.

Those twain descend: Adama goes gathering liban,
(Thus Ezriel bade;) but lightens not Earth's Plain
Yet, of lawns and green woods, this rising Sun.

(The ADAM, being come down from the Mountain of frankincense, pass forth, spouses, hand in hand, in the Lord's high Field.)

Heb. Supreme, Most High.

ADAM. ADAMA
ADAMA
How spring sweet lavrocks, on their trembling wings,
Up singing, at our feet! All speechless beasts
Behold come father leaping to these lawns.
Seem all heaven's fowl, fly flocking, with shrill cries,
To thousand leafy boughs; whereas we pass!

100

But we twain-one, save them that follow us,
Our unsubstantial shadows, are alone.

ADAM
Those do our unwont feature, they our shapes
Discern, our upright looks. The Lord beside
Us, none hath shaped, in man's similitude.

(The ADAM pass forth from sight.)
CHORUS

Before all things that be, I-AM, God was:
When yet there Height was not, nor Depth nor Place.
AM only was. All-God's creating Breath
Filled the Infinite Void, with mingled fiery Mist;
Whence, when on Height the heaven established was;
And in their courses ordered were the Stars;
Sea-flood and Earth-dust, to the Depth fell forth.

Sith Infinite circuits of His Sun be passed;
And Stars and Moon, o'er darkness of low Earth.
Mongst creeping wingless things, of the Earth's face,
Behold the Man, the Lord's new flesh-clad Spirit;
Whose eyes made of blind clay, have conceived Light;
His heart conceives now knowledge: yet no count
His soul of aught which went before him, hath.

101

The Adam, in their journeying, be come down,
To sea-girt borders of the Earth's green round,
Blue great sea-deep, which runs about the World;
That God in charge gave to an All-wise Spirit,
Mighty in Power, beneath the Throne, great Yau;
Lord of deep Knowledge named, of the Bright Eye:
To keep Sea's hoary tides, and rule salt streams,
Clothed with thick Clouds, in their appointed paths;
Wherein their fleeting habitation have
The moving infinite things, which breathe salt waves.

Behold them, o'er great murmuring waters' Plain;
Lift now amazed their eyes, perplext their hearts!

ADAM
Wide is God's Sea-gulf, whither and whence flows,
Through gates above beneath, that ebbing flood,
River of God, which in His Garden was,
Soft-streaming Gihon; in whose reedy brinks,
We wont descend, come hour of midday heat,
To wash us.

ADAMA
Father, I now thirsting stoopt,
To sup: but O, how bitter in my throat
This bíllow is!

(ADAM tastes the water.)

102

ADAM
Such was mocking flood I passed;
But could not drink, in Land of the Lord's Curse.

ADAMA
O Adam, when blew God that bitter breath,
On Earth's Plain; blew He likewise on Sea-deep?

ADAM
I wiss not. Like to cragged desolate Waste,
We lately passed, is Sea-steep's haggart face.

ADAMA
These glistering watery heaps, like woolly flocks,
And skipping lambs, run-up lo to our feet!

ADAM
Methought, much like to cloud, I viewed beyond,
Such further shore as streaming Gihon hath.

THE VOICE
Even as this weltering leafy bough thou seest,
In swart blue flood; fleeting in hollow trunks,
Thy sons shall tread on wide sea-waves, and pass
The hither both and further Gulf, to Coast,
Where God will give them rest and dwelling place.

103

ADAMA
Shall not we neath these shadowing boughs now rest
Out the clear noon-day heat; and pluck ripe fruits?

ADAM
See where a well-spring floweth, in the white sand!
There will we rest. The Lord God, sendeth upon us
Sea's windy breath.

ADAMA
Like hewéd these shire waves
Be to that misty garland, which our eyes
Beheld in day, in Valley of the Lord's Rest,
Of rain; hang in the skies, before His Sun!

CHORUS. EZRIEL. ADAM. ADAMA
CHORUS
The Adam twain have rested out, now past,
This noonday heat: lo Ezriel leads them forth;
Where now they from forhanging of sea-cliff,
Behold all finny nations of salt-Flood.

THE VOICE
As ye all beasts have seen in the Lord's Field,
Erewhile, and all winged clay of the wide airs;
So all things I, wherein is breath of Life,
You show, that move in circuit of Salt Deep.

104

ADAM
I know Lord God's High Hands, in His sea-streams,
Casting in forms of clay, whereon He breathed
Life's infinite Breath, made all the scaly kinds.

(They gaze far out from the rock.)
CHORUS
How stand those twain, in long astonishment,
To look on that unending glittering pomp,
Of fleeting fishes, which before them pass!

EZRIEL
Yond foremost ones, loud bellowing watery breath,
Which pines for greatness, seem; and that sweep forth
These spumy billows of the mighty Deep;
Be His strong whales. Wave-riding dolphins then,
Follow.

ADAM
But Lord to number and to name
This many of blue widespread sea's wallowing Plain;
Though I the thronging shoal of fishes named,
Which folded the Lord's Hand, in flowing Gihon.
Too high were for me, and too hard a task. (The man lifts his hand towards heaven.)

More these meseems be, than all feathered kinds,

105

And beasts! Like flowers, like birds of a bright wing,
Are sea-stream's manifold-shapen speckled flocks;
That ceaseless swimming watery companies pass;
Gliding and soaring, gasping, without voice;
Mongst whom there be, that dart as snakes; some flit,
Like fowl of heaven, from blue-hoar billows forth!

CHORUS

By shelving strand from thence, the Adam pace,
Of main sea-field, that poured round the wide Earth,
Leans gainst this fast uprising of green land:
Where so, with fishes fry, salt currents seethe;
That sea-height some hill-bent, with blowing grass,
Seems; whereon hovering fisher eagles stoop.

Lo, hand in hand; long day draws down till eve,
The Adam come again, in much discourse,
Still marvelling, to that spring and fig-trees' grove.
When morrow daws will they, ascending hence,
From threshold of the Deep, in the Lord's Spirit,
Return, to tread anew in Earth's green paths:
Till, in the Lord's fair Land, those come to place,
Which God appointed hath, where they should rest.

(The CHORUS departeth.)

106

Now, one after other, the Summer Months pass by above. Each Month is girded with gaudy green; and on all their foreheads are garlands, with golden frets: and in every one a shining Moon is seen; and three bright stars are set.

FIRST MONTH

I from my habitation am descended,
At singing of the bird upon Earth's bough:
Beneath my feet, corn springeth, the green herb groweth.

SECOND MONTH

And I make known the days: I strew glad flowers.

THIRD MONTH

From Him, Who path directeth of the Stars,
Come I: out of His treasures bring I rain.

FOURTH MONTH

I, from the signs, bring plenty to Earth's ground.

FIFTH MONTH

I all fruits ripen.

SIXTH MONTH

I lay up seed-grain.

107

The CHORUS returneth.
CHORUS
Ye Months, and have ye now fulfilled your tasks;
As was ordained in Field, of the Lord's Earth?

MONTHS
We have done that the Lord commanded us,
Draws Sun more daily down, o'er the low Earth:
And shrinks, twixt the two heavenly gates, his path.
Till he revert, in brightness, to high place,
In the New Year, we Summer Months forth pass.

(Morning in the waning of the Year. The Adam spouses are yet wayfaring, in the Lord's Field.)
ADAMA
How round us fall, Spouse-father, these sere leaves!
The flower-kinds also, in the open lawns,
Wither: whose beauty and their sweet-smelling breath,
In journeying up before the Lord adorned
Our brows and crowned: and must we likewise turn
Now to Earth's dust! as spake dread heavenly Voice,
In day when the Lord angry was with us?

108

ADAM

This is the languor of the year thou seest;
When the wide bosom slumbereth of the Field;
And lengthened be the nights; for goeth down soon
The Sun; and tarries long the day to rise;
Until return fair season of the Spring.
Thrice Adama, ere that from my substance, wast
Thou severed, had I seen renewed in Eden
The leaf. And know, God spake this night to Adam,
Saying, gather in your winter sustenance.
Wherefore will we this morn not further forth.

Be not here groves, whose fruits of several kinds,
Hang ruddy-ripe, for victual, in the boughs?
Them will we pluck, and spread on the hot stone,
Under His harvest Sun; like as in Eden,
Me taught an holy Angel, which had charge
Of all green growth and husbandry of the ground.

ADAMA
Have not, till now, as were constrained, our feet,
Trod forth, in Earth's green paths? but so of late,
So ah héavy are waxed, spouse-father, these my bowels!
I may not more, each morn, continue thus.

109

ADAM
Beloved, be of good comfort! Is not this
His sign, whereof the Angel spake to us;
When, on the Mount, He blessed us, looking forth;
And gave to us dominion, o'er all beasts;
And milk for sustenance, and to clothe us fleece?
In saying, what dáy, like to fair statured palm,
Which in her bosom beareth goodly fruit,
Thy body were found great; passed forth our feet,
From wide Land of long wandering weariness,
We should find rest, field, fold and dwelling-place.
Whilst I now go about, to pluck us fruits;
Abide, this gelsomine's shadowing shroud beneath.

ADAM
(bye and bye returning, with fruits in his hands)
Taste, which I gathered have, amongst the glades,
These sun-warm clusters of the vine and dates.

(She eats; and ADAM returns to the trees.)
CHORUS

Earth's fruit hangs ruddy on the weary bough;
In all the fallow field, the bearded herb,
Stands sere, and ripeneth seed: fall russet leaves,
Cumbering clear brooks, which bitter flow thereof.

110

Even as all living things, from their first source,
Increase: so shall be multiplied on the Earth,
Now Adam. Shall Man's Seed be, midst Earth's beasts,
As flowers amongst green grass. Even now beginneth
The World. Souls ready in womb of the Man's Wife,
Are, clad in fleshly slime, to be brought forth;
Whereof much fear and heaviness her soul hath.

Hark, cometh with Adam; (yond lo, o'er the Field,
He wends!) a mingled bleating voice. Loud chants
The Man, who nighs, one of the songs of Eden!

ADAM. ADAMA
ADAM

When now I made an end to gather fruits,
Pomegranates, raisins, figs and dates and nuts;
I stayed; and lifted up my sweated looks,
On Field around: then was I ware of cries,
Of ewes and lambs. And on a sharp cliff found
I these few sheep; where them some evil beast
Of late had frayed. I turned; those followed forth:
And they not leave me. These shall yield us fleece,
Which ere thou gatheredst amongst thorny brakes;
And milk, that promised us an Angel's voice.

111

And as I came, me Ezriel showed, neath cliff,
A Cave, where we, in Winter days, should lodge.
To-morrow will we bear therein our stuff;
And fold our flock.

ADAMA
But whiles abroad thou wast
So long, spouse-father, also I have found,
How beating fleece together, on these stones,
To work us pelts, cloth, covering from the cold.

(The morrow at noon.)
CHORUS

The Man went forth at dawn, in the Lord's Field;
And now returns to Adama, in this place;
Under sweet gelsomine's boughs, where they did lodge.

Bearing their stuff and leading the ewes' flock;
They twain passed forth, lo come to their cave's mouth.

ADAM. ADAMA
ADAMA
(setting down her basket)
The beasts have shelter and the birds have nests.
The Lord giveth us an hollow cliff, to house,

112

Flits in the chiddering swallow, and white dove;
And the sweet honey-flies, they lodge with us.

ADAMA enters in their cave.
ADAMA
(within)
What father hast thou here in order set?

ADAM
Bowls which, out of the rinded gourd, I with
My sharp flint hollowed, ere thou Adama camest.
In such, will we bestow our morrow's milk.

(Adam goeth out, with one of their gourds, to the flock; and comes again with milk.)
ADAM
Taste this frothed cup; which, with our pleasant fruits,
Is sweet, and of much kindly sustenance.

(She drinks milk.)
ADAMA
Wherefore heapedst thou this halm, under our cliff?

ADAM
For Winter provender of our little flock:
It now I gathered in, of the Lord's Field.

113

ADAMA
What means this shock of wood?

ADAM
He bade me thus.

ADAMA
What yond tree-trunk?

ADAM

This morn I, from the root,
It reft, and on my shoulder bare; and cast
Here down, at our Cave's mouth; and now I lop
The green branch, with my wood-knife of hard flint:
So must I pill, and sever from the stock,
The beam; (this beasts have showed me with their teeth;)
To fashion me a mattock. I therewith;
(The pattern saw I, in my dream, to-night,)
Shall hew a plot, nigh our cliff-lodge. To this
Mine arms also be waxen strong and tough.

My hands shall sow then barley and wheat; and pulse
Cast in our broken glebe; like as I wont
Plant my seed-pans in Eden the Lord's Garden.
And in full time of ripeness of Earth's fruits,

114

We rubbing out, twixt our two palms, the awns,
Thereof did eat. Reveals that heavenly Voice;
When herb, in Field, that springeth of itself,
Shall fail; that we should eat of our purged grain,
The labour of our hands, prepared with flame:
But how with flame prepared, I wot not yet.

I go now Helpmate forth, to lop us twigs;
Wherewith we may us tress a maund, this eve;
For I, to-morrow's morn, must glean seed-grain.

Again the CHORUS departeth; one remaineth. The lofty NIGHT enters, and then the new DAY.
NIGHT
I one am many. Daughter of Myself
Aye and Mother infinite. A Remnant, I
Am of All-Darkness; ere said God, Be Light!

One of the CHORUS
(which remaineth)
What sayest thou, O bright, springing Day?

DAY
I put,
Each Morn, this antique Mother Night to flight;
And all her baneful brood of darkness slay:
Yea, and I eternally should prevail, but that

115

Cannot Sun's Lamp continue aye on height;
In his diurnal Arc, cannot he cease:
Whence hidden his half-light is beneath dark Earth.

Another DAY. The CHORUS is come again.
CHORUS

Since we were here; we which have charge assigned,
In air and Earth, in many another Place,
The changing Moon hath climbed now three times thrice;
Through the night-heavens of starry sliding choirs:
As many Suns have shined, on Earth's low face.
The tenth I see descending wide in West!

Behold the Adam lodged, in their craig-house;
Where now they, in wreathed baskets, comely rows,
Have victual, raisins parched, dates, cakes bestowed
Of figs; and stored in many another place,
Bay and shelf, of their cliff-house, be honey-combs,
Nuts and milk gourds; fleece also and wild eggs,
Which gathered housewife Adama's diligent hands:
And the Man's husbandry, in due order set;
Lo his basket, mattock, culters of hard flint,
To till the earth. Adam, that lately gleaned

116

Seed-corn, now laboureth daily, in the Field,
The shining clod, next to their dwelling-place.

He goeth now in his glebe; and scattereth seed
His hand. Hath Adama gathered, to their Cave,
Dry leaves; and woollen pelts, which, in these days,
Of much beat fleece she made, thereon displayed.
Adam neath the cliffs' eaves, wherein their lodge,
Hath weaved defence of boughs, gainst the night wind,
And banked wild stones; and pens set up and cribs,
For provender; and to stall their little flock.
The father sith, in the Lord's Field, went forth.

Sits Adama alone her sunning in Cave-mouth,
Busy to teaze her wool, upon her knees:
And as she pensive cards the ravelled fleece,
She mourneth low as a dove, that cloyed her corse
So, and accumbered is. Now unknown need,
Grief, hath upon her seized. Erst bearing pains,
On this first childing woman Adama fall.

ADAMA. The LORD'S VOICE
ADAMA

I called spouse-father, with loud weeping voice,
Adam! because my suffering is come nigh.

117

None answers! Haply hath stayed him the Lord's Spirit,
Amidst the Field; where daily He to Adam,
Revealeth some new thing. Ihh! what was this,
A pang did thrill my loins. The sorrow increaseth!
These throws be more, that wring my bowels, that rend, than
I, eigh me! Í have strength to bear them: Adam!

Night falls, ere going down of the Lord's Sun,
Upon my fearful soul. Lord, Lord, if this
Be death, ah let not eagles fret my flesh!
Adam! O Adamu! Adamu! Ah-hi, Adam! VOICE of the LORD, from heaven

Woman, the sighing of thy sore constraint,
Is heard in heaven. The Lord God sends thee strength
To bear thy burden. Daughter of the Earth,
Thy cries twixt the two evenings of this night,
Shall turned be unto singing and glad voice;
Wherein with thee thine husband shall rejoice.
It is not good, that ye, O Adam-Twain,
Should dwell amidst the earth's wide plain alone!

118

ADAMA
Last the day dims: stoops now bright Sun upon
Yond evening hills. Even thus, at entering in
His bower, Sun garlands, with hewed skies, his head.
Now will not Adamu tarry to come home! (She withdraws herself. Then ADAMA'S cries are heard, in deep of their cliff-Cave.)

I, with this dying Light, I Adama, I die!

CHORUS. THE HEAVENLY VOICE. THEN ADAM
CHORUS

Hath Adama borne, in deep of their Cave-bower,
Kayin, Habel and a daughter, Noaba.
Thus the Lord God hath named them, (from Whom hid
No times are;) ere He formed them in the womb.
Hovereth on the grieved Woman's parted lips,
Her soul, now ready to flit forth! So cometh
God's Adam, stained with labour, from the Field,

Now husbandman, with swonken looks, he is.
He, in his bosom, bears two new-yeaned lambs;
The ewe-mother following him, to their cliff-lodge.
In the Cave's shadow, Adama lies and moans.

119

ADAM
What lambs be these, that bleat so, in our bower; (The father enters.)

Be mine eyes seeing? not eanlings these of ewes;
But like-formed unto Adam! (He goeth forth softly.)

Ah, Adama sleeps!

THE VOICE
Thou, in these little ones, thy children seest:
God giveth you Adam this increase of souls.

CHORUS
The Man stands, in astonishment of his heart,
Still gazing on: but Adama waking groans;
She to her gathers, with her dazing hands,
And suckles, in dim cave, their little ones:
So lifting up her eyes, she Wife sees Adam!

ADAM
Thus to her teats, as she hath seen the ewes,
She puts our lambs.

ADAMA
Mine heart doth sing, as this
Glad voice, which cometh up to mine ears, of birds:
Seem break now forth in singing, yond dim groves!

120

Under the glooming hills. Why father wast
Thou so far from me, in the Field abroad?
When bowed-down, in mine anguish, I cried out,
For Adam; came only the mother ewes
About me, with four-footed tread!

ADAM
As bade
The Angel, I wrought in our plot of glebe.

ADAMA
Behold our Children, in thy likeness made!
Take them thou up spouse-father; one each dip
Thou, in the lukewarm brook, that floweth beneath
Our lodge: so lap them, which I cannot yet,
In this warm fleece, their mothers' hands prepared.

CHORUS
Gone Adam with their weeping babes forth; soon
With them returns, lo father, in his arms.
Now be those sleeping, swaddled in warm felt.

ADAM. ADAMA
ADAM
(with great voice)
Be thou named Hawwa! thou that Mother art

121

Of all shall live, in likeness of our flesh,
Before the Lord. Hast thou borne Men; thou art
Parequal with me Hawwa, from henceforth!

ADAMA
Lay thou them in my bosom, from the cold.

ADAM
This twilight hour is cold. O'er thee I spread
Beloved, our pelt. Know, whiles, in the Lord's Field,
This morn I knapped, my cutting flint to edge,
To shape me stakes; there sparkles fell thereout,
On the hot sod, which kindled in dry moss,
Like as thou flame sawest rise up from the rock,
Under our liban, that the Angel toucht.
Then I thereto put stover, as me taught
The Voice; and went up flaming fiery spirit,
Like midday's warmth. This I anew will prove!

CHORUS. ADAM. ADAMA
CHORUS
The father smites forth sparkles, from his flint,
On the dry herb: breathes on them, twixt his palms;
Fire kindles, and flame mounts in their craig-house.

122

ADAM
I put to halm; small now sere wood, as thus;
Boughs then.

ADAMA
What living thing of light and warmth:
Creature and Wonder of the Lord is this;
Which of so small seeds, as thou Adam wakedst,
Of the hard flint, upwafteth so at once!
Like as it kindled were, at the Lord's Sun;
Which thus itself infoldeth, like to snake!
Whence mist-like this thick vapour, with hot breath,
As cloud ascends, and without wings, still soars.

ADAM
Heaven Father giveth us shelter, light and warmth,
To-night, in our cave-house. We may not lodge
More, neath green branches and heaven's Winter Stars:
But this wreathed cragged rock hangs o'er our heads.

ADAMA
Cast Adam, in this flame, our gift of gladness,
Cast in, before the Lord, that precious liban,
Sap of the sacred boughs of the Lord's hill.

123

Cast for us both: amidst my maund it lies,
Aye midst my maund! I may not longer speak.

CHORUS
He doth so: and all filled is their Cliff-house,
With parfume, which recomforteth their frail spirits.

ADAM. ADAMA
ADAMA
Hark Adamu, rushing sound!

ADAM

Doubt not, thine heart!
Nor dread! This Sarsar is not. Sarsar bound
Hath, for a time and times, the Father's Hand:
But this, with creaking boughs and roar of wind,
Is Winter Tempest; out of whose dark wings,
Rain falleth now, of that waters' multitude,
Which is above the firmament: and makes glad
Wide world, causing the earth to yield her strength;
Whence shall green tender offspring of the ground,
In the New Year, sprout, in a plentiful Field;
Like to the Garden of God, and fruitful boughs
Bud forth. The Lord is good, to-night the Lord
Hath shut us in, in safety, with our fold.

124

Under the covert of Heaven Father's Wings,
Thou and our Children sleep. Thou Hawwa hast
Need thou to sleep: sleep! whiles I bete our hearth.

THE END

This name, the same in Heb. and Ar. (the root signifies breathe, live,) has come down to us, through loss of the Semitic strong initial aspirate, as Eva; whence our Eve.