Chapter 2 1
NOw Morn her rosie steps in th Eastern Clime
Advancing, sowd the earth with Orient Pearle,
When Adam wakt, so customd, for his sleep
Was Aerie light, from pure digestion bred,
And temperat vapors bland, which th only sound [ 5 ]
Of leaves and fuming rills, Auroras fan,
Lightly disperse, and the shrill Matin Song
Of Birds on every bough; so much the more
His wonder was to find unwaknd Eve
With Tresses discomposd, and glowing Cheek, [ 10 ]
As through unquiet rest: he on his side
Leaning half-raisd, with looks of cordial Love
Hung over her enamourd, and beheld
Beautie, which whether waking or sleeping,
Shot forth peculiar graces; then with voice [ 15 ]
Milde, as when Zephyrus on Flora breathes,
Her hand soft touching, whispered thus. Awake
My fairest, my espousd, my latest found,
Heavns last best gift, my ever new delight,
Awake, the morning shines, and the fresh field [ 20 ]
Calls us, we lose the prime, to mark how spring
Our tended Plants, how blows the Citron Grove,
What drops the Myrrhe, and what the balmie Reed,
How Nature paints her colours, how the Bee
Sits on the Bloom extracting liquid sweet. [ 25 ]
Such whispering wakd her, but with startld eye
On Adam, whom imbracing, thus she spake.
O Sole in whom my thoughts find all repose,
My Glorie, my Perfection, glad I see
Thy face, and Morn return, for I this Night, [ 30 ]
Such night till this I never passd, have dreamed,
If dreamed, not as I oft am wont, of thee,
Works of day pass, or morrows next designe,
But of offense and trouble, which my mind
Knew never till this irksom night; methought [ 35 ]
Close at mine ear one called me forth to walk
With gentle voice, I thought it thine; it said,
Why sleepst thou Eve? now is the pleasant time,
The cool, the silent, save where silence yields
To the night-warbling Bird, that now awake [ 40 ]
Tunes sweetest his love-laborord song; now reignes
Full Orbd the Moon, and with more pleasing light
Shadowie sets off the face of things; in vain,
If none regard; Heavn wakes with all his eyes,
Whom to behold but thee, Natures desire, [ 45 ]
In whose sight all things joy, with ravishment
Attracted by thy beauty still to gaze.