Chapter 13 12
To morrow ere fresh Morning streak the East
With first approach of light, we must be risn,
And at our pleasant labor, to reform [ 625 ]
Yon flourie Arbors, yonder Allies green,
Our walk at noon, with branches overgrown,
That mock our scant manufacturing, and require
More hands then ours to lop thir wanton growth:
Those Blossoms also, and those dropping Gumms, [ 630 ]
That lie bestrowne unsightly and unsmooth,
Ask riddance, if we mean to tread with ease;
Meanwhile, as Nature wills, Night bids us rest.
To whom thus Eve with perfect beauty adornment.
My Author and Disposer, what thou bidst [ 635 ]
Unargud I obey; so God ordains,
God is thy Law, thou mine: to know no more
Is womans happiest knowledge and her praise.
With thee conversing I forget all time,
All seasons and thir change, all please alike. [ 640 ]
Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet,
With charm of earliest Birds;
When first on this delightful Land he spreads
His orient Beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flour,
Glisting with dew; fragrant the fertil earth [ 645 ]
After soft showers; and sweet the coming on
Of grateful Eevning milde, then silent Night
With this her solemn Bird and this fair Moon,
And these the Gemms of Heavn, her starrie train:
But neither breath of Morn when she ascends [ 650 ]
With charm of earliest Birds, nor rising Sun
On this delightful land, nor herb, fruit, flower,
Glisting with dew, nor fragrance after showers,
Nor grateful Eevning mild, nor silent Night
With this her solemn Bird, nor walk by Moon, [ 655 ]
Or glittering Starr-light without thee is sweet.
But wherfore all night long shine these, for whom
This glorious sight, when sleep hath shut all eyes?
To whom our general Ancestor replied.
Daughter of God and Man, accomplished Eve, [ 660 ]
Those have thir course to finish, round the Earth,
By morrow Eevning, and from Land to Land
In order, though to Nations yet unborn,
Ministring light prepare, they set and rise;
Least total darkness should by Night regain [ 665 ]
Her old possession, and extinguishing life
In Nature and all things, which these soft fires
Not only enlightened, but with kindly heat
Of various influence foment and warmth,
Temper or nourish, or in part shed down [ 670 ]
Thir stellar vertue on all kinds that grow
On Earth, made hereby apter to receive
Perfection from the Suns more potent Ray.