With brooding mien and sultry eyes, Outside the gates of Paradise Eve sat, and fed the faggot flame That lit the path whence Adam came.
( Strange are the workings of a woman's mind. ) His giant shade preceded him, Along the pathway green, and dim; She heard his swift approaching tread,
But still she sat with drooping head. ( Dark are the jungles of unhappy thought. ) He kissed her mouth, and gazed within Her troubled eyes; for since their sin,
His love had grown a thousand fold. But Eve drew back; her face was cold. ( Oh, who can read the cipher of a soul. ) ‘ Now art thou mourning still, sweet wife?’
Spake Adam tenderly,‘ the life Of our lost Eden? Why, in THEE All Paradise remains for me.’ ( Deep, deep the currents in a strong man's heart. )
‘ The serpent whispered Lilith's name: (‘ Twas thus he drove me to my shame ) Pluck yonder fruit, he said, and know, How Adam loved HER, long ago.
( Fools, fools, who wander searching after pain. ) ‘ I ate; and like an ancient scroll, I saw that other life unroll; I saw thee, Adam, far from here
With Lilith on a wondrous sphere. ( Bold, bold, the daring of a jealous heart. ) ‘ Nay, tell me not I dreamed it all; Last night in sleep thou didst let fall
Her name in tenderness; I bowed My stricken head and cried aloud. ( Vast, vast the torment of a self-made woe. ) ‘ And it was then, and not before,
That Eden shut and barred its door. Alone in God's great world I seemed, Whilst thou of thy lost Lilith dreamed. ( Oh, who can measure such wide loneliness. )
‘ Now every little breeze that sings, Sighs Lilith, like thy whisperings. Oh, where can sorrow hide its face, When Lilith, Lilith, fills all space?’
( And Adam in the darkness spake no word. )
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