Classic Poem

THE MARRIAGE IN EDEN

And then, without his knowing, sweet sleep descended down
On all of Adam's senses, heaven's grace so girt him round;
No sense, no feeling knew he, and yet his spirit brought
Awareness that he saw what God now wrought.

For in this sleep of Adam's he thought he saw the Lord,
With whom he held such sweet converse before,
Make an incision in his breast, the left side split apart,
There opposite the root of Adam's heart.

And then draw forth a bone with his celestial hand,
And give it its own human shape, in woman's likeness planned;
And as he pressed and moulded, flesh it became and blood,
He saw she was alive; she breathed, she rose, she stood.

A human form most perfect he saw her drawing near,
Nothing seen by him till now in beauty was her peer;
His wound was closed, the blood-flow sealed,
The pain he thought he suffered, that too was quickly healed.

So lovely and so lovable, so heavenly and so fair,
The very flower of flowers, the fruit of all fruits there,
That all those blessings crowding round through all that smiling place,
As he beheld her countenance lost savour, hue, and grace.

For the beauty of each creature shone in her queenly face,
With a thousand other beauties here gathered in one place;
In her cheeks the rose of love, and splendour in her mien,
Her person and her presence delightful as serene.

So that a glow of human love, that pure and faultless flame,
Till now no part of Adam's make, into his heart's core came;
And in his soul an aching: nothing might please him more,
Save in that longed-for presence to dwell for evermore.

And so when he awoke from that sweet slumbrous spell
(The sweetest from that hour to this that ever man befell),
He looked about on every side; she must, he knew, be found,
Or to see, and then to lose her, deal a sevenfold deeper wound.

He saw her coming towards him, at her Creator's side:
Who now his manly joy may tell, his love's hot genial tide?
After the Fall how can we tell? And what knows lust's sick fire
Of love conceived in Paradise, its nature and its power?

Her form, which so possessed his mind, was fair as the morning's dawn,
That self-same woman's likeness his recent dream had drawn;
Attired in every loveliness of heaven and earth complete,
And all those traits of elegance for man's true consort meet.

She knew that to be joined with him in the holy marriage-tie
She now approached God's regent in the world;
Earth's first and foremost nuptials in Eden were at hand,
Uniquely great, uniquely fair, by heaven's great Maker planned.

When he had gazed on her this while, he turned to greet the Lord:
" Speak, speak I must," said Adam, " and my perfect bliss record.
O gentle, generous Maker, for mercy's works renowned,
With this dear gift thy promises beyond belief are crowned.

" All objects in the firmament, all objects on the sea,
Each gift of thine is lovely, but far more lovely she.
Now I behold a bone made of my bone arise,
And flesh of my own flesh grow tall before my eyes.

" And woman is her name, formed of a perfect man,
No mother's love shall bind him, no father's precept ban,
But he shall cleave unto his wife, one soul and but one heart,
Henceforth these twain shall be one flesh, and never, never part.

" O rose of the creation, o creature fashioned fair,
The widest bounds of nature hold nothing to compare;
Nought else was there might shape thee, save that one hand alone,
More splendid far than he that gave the bone."

She heard and recognized his voice, she recognized his power,
In majesty of thought he towered supreme;
And yet a sweet decorum and her ever-shamefast mind
Would rightly have him seek ere he should find.

She turned, her back towards him: fair modesty whose spell
Inheres in pure and perfect grace, throve e'en before man fell:
Reverent her step, and delicate, as softly she withdrew,
Most innocent, and yet, that he would follow she well knew.

He hastened to her joyously, both in their Maker's sight,
He plied her mind with tender pleas and arguments of might;
She weighed his words, she pondered, she kindled with a fire,
The power of love and reason, these conquered Eve entire.

And honourably she yielded. What less could woman say,
Her role explained, accepted, in all things to obey?
Her Maker her bestower, how should she him deny?
And He his blessing gave them, in heavenly majesty.

" Multiply, be fruitful, the world is yours to fill,
So rule it, so possess it, the beasts bend to your will;
And in the sea all fishes, and in the sky each bird,
The quick and the unquickened heed your word."

Heaven's high vault and each blithe star with happiness now glow,
And pour their sweetest pleasures here below;
The earth rejoiced, the earth gave thanks, the grateful signs abound,
And all the chords of nature in joyous descant sound.

The gums and scented flowers their mingled perfumes shed,
The breeze those mingled perfumes raise up and endless spread;
The trees put forth their blossoms in all their various dyes,
And heaven's zephyrs waft them through the garden paradise.

All things that there surround him, great joy their hearts upbore,
That Adam finds that half of love his world had lacked before:
All things that God had given life, each comely pard, each beast,
As though they carolled, carolled, for earth's first bridal feast.

Until such hour the nightingale began to pour his song,
To usher in those gentlest joys that to man's love belong,
And cause that star to hasten which leads night through her sphere,
A shining marriage lamp on high for earth's first bridal pair.