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Is to stay here; without thee here to stay,

Is to go hence unwilling; thou to me

Art all things under heaven, all places thou,

Who for my wilful crime art banished hence.

This further consolation yet secure

I carry hence; though all by me is lost,

Such favour I, unworthy, am vouchsafed,

By me the Promised Seed shall all restore.

So spake our mother Eve; and Adam heard, Well pleased, but answered not; for now, too nigh The Archangel stood; and from the other hill To their fixed station, all in bright array, The Cherubim descended, on the ground Gliding meteorus, as evening mist, Risen from a river, o'er the marish glides, And gathers ground fast at the labourer's heel, Homeward returning. High in front advanced, The brandished sword of God before them blazed, Fierce as a comet; which, with torrid heat, And vapour as the Lybian air adust, Began to parch that temperate clime; whereat In either hand the hastening Angel caught Our lingering parents, and to the eastern gate Led them direct, and down the cliff as fast To the subjected plain; then disappeared. They, looking back, all the eastern side beheld Of Paradise, so late their happy seat, Waved over by that flaming brand; the gate With dreadful faces thronged, and fiery arms. Some natural tears they dropt, but wiped them soon; The world was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide: They, hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow, Through Eden took their solitary way.

THE END.