| |
MINE eyes he closed, but open left the cell | |
| Of fancy, my internal sight, by which | |
| Abstract, as in a trance, methought I saw, | |
| Though sleeping, where I lay, and saw the shape | |
| Still glorious before whom awake I stood; | 5 |
| Who, stooping, opened my left side, and took | |
| From thence a rib, with cordial spirits warm, | |
| And life-blood streaming fresh; wide was the wound, | |
| But suddenly with flesh filled up and healed: | |
| The rib he formed and fashioned with his hands; | 10 |
| Under his forming hands a creature grew, | |
| Manlike, but different sex, so lovely fair, | |
| That what seemed fair in all the world seemed now | |
| Mean, or in her summed up, in her contained, | |
| And in her looks, which from that time infused | 15 |
| Sweetness into my heart, unfelt before, | |
| And into all things from her air inspired | |
| The spirit of love and amorous delight. | |
| She disappeared, and left me dark; I waked | |
| To find her, or forever to deplore | 20 |
| Her loss, and other pleasures all abjure: | |
| When out of hope, behold her, not far off, | |
| Such as I saw her in my dream, adorned | |
| With what all earth or Heaven could bestow | |
| To make her amiable. On she came, | 25 |
| Led by her heavenly Maker, though unseen, | |
| And guided by his voice, nor uninformed | |
| Of nuptial sanctity and marriage rites: | |
| Grace was in all her steps, Heaven in her eye, | |
| In every gesture dignity and love. | 30 |
| I, overjoyed, could not forbear aloud: | |
| “This turn hath made amends; thou hast fulfilled | |
| Thy words, Creator bounteous and benign, | |
| Giver of all things fair, but fairest this | |
| Of all thy gifts, nor enviest. I now see | 35 |
| Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, myself | |
| Before me; Woman is her name, of man | |
| Extracted: for this cause he shall forego | |
| Father and mother, and to his wife adhere; | |
| And they shall be one flesh, one heart, one soul.” | 40 |
| She heard me thus, and though divinely brought, | |
| Yet innocence and virgin modesty, | |
| Her virtue and the conscience of her worth, | |
| That would be wooed, and not unsought be won, | |
| Not obvious, not obtrusive, but retired, | 45 |
| The more desirable; or, to say all, | |
| Nature herself, though pure of sinful thought, | |
| Wrought in her so, that, seeing me, she turned; | |
| I followed her; she what was honor knew, | |
| And with obsequious majesty approved | 50 |
| My pleaded reason. To the nuptial bower | |
| I led her blushing like the morn: all Heaven, | |
| And happy constellations on that hour | |
| Shed their selectest influence; the earth | |
| Gave sign of gratulation, and each hill; | 55 |
| Joyous the birds; fresh gales and gentle airs | |
| Whispered it to the woods, and from their wings | |
| Flung rose, flung odors from the spicy shrub, | |
| Disporting, till the amorous bird of night | |
| Sung spousal, and bid haste the evening star | 60 |
| On his hill-top, to light the bridal lamp. * * * * * When I approach | |
| Her loveliness, so absolute she seems, | |
| And in herself complete, so well to know | |
| Her own, that what she wills to do or say | |
| Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best; | 65 |
| All higher knowledge in her presence falls | |
| Degraded, wisdom in discourse with her | |
| Loses discountenanced, and like folly shows; | |
| Authority and reason on her wait, | |
| As one intended first, not after made | 70 |
| Occasionally; and, to consummate all, | |
| Greatness of mind and nobleness their seat | |
| Build in her loveliest, and create an awe | |
| About her, as a guard angelic placed, * * * * * | |
| Neither her outside formed so fair, nor aught * * * * * | 75 |
| So much delights me, as those graceful acts, | |
| Those thousand decencies that daily flow | |
| From all her words and actions, mixed with love | |
| And sweet compliance, which declare unfeigned | |
| Union of mind, or in us both one soul; | 80 |
| Harmony to behold in wedded pair | |
| More grateful than harmonious sound to the ear. | |
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