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(From The Point of View)
A HAND omnipotent, in endless space, | |
| From chaos, formed a world and found a place, | |
| Where, through the countless ages, yet unborn, | |
| A star might shine from dusk to rosy morn. | |
| Great mountains rose, majestic in their might, | 5 |
| And sun-kissed hills, aglow with mellow light, | |
| And rippling streams went purling through the dales, | |
| To silver lakes that glistened in the vales. | |
| A subtle fragrance filled each shifting breeze, | |
| The scent of flowers in bloom and budding trees. | 10 |
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| So beautiful the earth, in Nature’s eyes, | |
| A soul was sent to dwell, in human guise, | |
| A form of god-like beauty and of might, | |
| To drink the sunshine and to dream at night, | |
| Strange visions came to Nature’s first child, Man. | 15 |
| In those old days, when first the world began, | |
| Unclad and lone, he roved from spot to spot | |
| And longed and yearned for something which was not. | |
| Until, at last, a prayer went up to Heaven | |
| And Nature’s noblest gift to man was given: | 20 |
| A gentle, throbbing, trembling, beauteous maid, | |
| Fair as the man, but with a softer shade, | |
| Endowed with beauty and a thousand charms | |
| That sought the sheltering clasp of loving arms. | |
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| As children play, in childhood’s happy hours, | 25 |
| They romped and played among the sylvan bowers, | |
| Or sported in the streams whose waters sweet | |
| Ran cool beneath the trees at noonday’s heat. | |
| And when night’s sable banners were unfurled | |
| And darkness wound her arms about the world, | 30 |
| On beds of roses, in some vine-clad nest, | |
| Their drowsy senses found untroubled rest | |
| And wandering zephyrs swept across them there, | |
| Unclad, but unashamed, in Eden fair. | |
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| No thought had come to them of wild desire | 35 |
| And yet, at times, a smouldering, hidden fire | |
| Seemed slumbering deep within and fiercer burned, | |
| When, in their sleep, they toward each other turned, | |
| One ambient night of blissful summer-time, | |
| A perfect night of Eden’s balmy clime, | 40 |
| Eve stretched her languorous limbs in restless sleep | |
| And Adam, at her side, sought slumber deep. | |
| Some trifling thing, perhaps a wind-swayed fern, | |
| A leaf—a bird—caused both of them to turn. | |
| Eve’s rounded arm was thrown above her head, | 45 |
| Her dimpled knee, just lifted from its bed, | |
| When, by this chance, this trifle, light as air, | |
| Their warm lips met, and, trembling, lingered there. | |
| They slept no more from dusk to rosy dawn, | |
| ’Mongst roses red or on some grassy lawn, | 50 |
| But wakened often, from strange dreams of bliss, | |
| To find their mouths all melting in a kiss. | |
| Their hearts were filled with vague, unknown desire, | |
| Nor knew they how to quench the wondrous fire. | |
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| A wild unrest upon them settled down | 55 |
| And Adam’s brow would often wear a frown, | |
| And then again, he’d stroke her glorious hair | |
| And gaze into her eyes and call her fair, | |
| Then clasp her fiercely, with encircling arm, | |
| As though to shield her from impending harm, | 60 |
| Then wildly kiss her—eyes—mouth—neck and breast, | |
| While she against him, tightly, closely press’t | |
| Still waited, hungered, starved for something more, | |
| Yet little knew what nature had in store. | |
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| Just how the fall occurred, so long ago, | 65 |
| The modern world should naturally know. | |
| Not touching on his grievous fall from grace, | |
| But just a hint at what we know took place, | |
| And if his fall was premature, what then! | |
| That sometimes happens to the best of men. | 70 |
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| Eve’s little, truant, tapering fingers slim, | |
| Beloved of Adam and caressed by him, | |
| By accident, one night, grew wondrous wise, | |
| And found just where the trees of knowledge rise. | |
| Amazed, surprise, confounded, if you please, | 75 |
| But, womanlike, inclined a bit to tease, | |
| She tried experiments of many a kind, | |
| To learn by which she most delight could find? | |
| And Adam, dizzy with her new-found charms, | |
| Gave way to every pressure of her arms | 80 |
| And gave her childish innocence full sway, | |
| Nor cared to check her or to say her: “Nay.” | |
| Then suddenly, with savage, passionate clasp, | |
| She drew him to her with an eager grasp | |
| And sank exhausted, yet with cheeks aflame, | 85 |
| Athrill with feelings which she could not name | |
| And Adam, swept away, on seas of bliss, | |
| Poured all his soul in one, long, clinging kiss. | |
| ’T was pain, ’t was pleasure, ’t was a joy intense. | |
| It seemed as though along each quivering sense, | 90 |
| Swift rivulets of fire had found their way | |
| And burned their hearts. They knew not night nor day, | |
| Nor life, nor death, nor aught that mortals know. | |
| They only knew they loved each other so. | |
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| Nor dreamed they, even yet, of further joy, | 95 |
| The one swift dream that comes without alloy, | |
| And blends two loving natures into one, | |
| Too sweet to last—that ends ere ’tis begun. | |
| It came to them like lightning from the sky. | |
| Each thought the very hour of death was nigh, | 100 |
| Yet longed to live. Delirious pain | |
| Went sweeping through their inmost souls again | |
| And black oblivion brooded for an hour, | |
| O’er passion’s birth in Eden’s rosy bower. | |
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| And when, at last, Eve wakened from her swoon, | 105 |
| The night had fled. The glare of Eden’s noon | |
| Sent showers of golden light through waving trees, | |
| And subtle fragrance lingered on the breeze. | |
| Throughout the realm of Eden’s joyous bower, | |
| All things that lived were happy in that hour, | 110 |
| For, led by sweet desire, example given, | |
| They found, on earth, the one foretaste of Heaven. | |
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| And since you must know all there is to know, | |
| When Eve awakened, in a blushing glow, | |
| Her thirst for knowledge, seeking to know all, | 115 |
| Discovered first the secret of the fall. | |
| She sought the source of her new-found delight, | |
| Turned pale, grew faint and trembled at the sight. | |
| The Tree of Knowledge stood—ah! yes, it stood. | |
| Past tense, you see—and while the past was good, | 120 |
| The present need was great, without a doubt | |
| And pretty Eve began to fret and pout. | |
| She wept and sighed and said “I see it all, | |
| For here was death and there, alas! the fall.” | |
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