Read The Annotated Milton: Complete English Poems Online
Authors: John Milton,Burton Raffel
Tags: #Fiction, #General, #Literary Collections, #Poetry, #Classics, #English; Irish; Scottish; Welsh, #English poetry
964
A long day’s dying, to augment our pain,
965
And to our seed (O hapless Seed!) derived.”
5705
966
To whom thus Eve, recovering heart, replied:
967
“Adam, by sad experiment I know
968
How little weight my words with thee can find,
969
Found so erroneous, thence by just event
5706
970
Found so unfortunate. Nevertheless,
971
Restored by thee, vile as I am, to place
972
Of new acceptance, hopeful to regain
973
Thy love, the sole contentment of my heart
974
Living or dying, from thee I will not hide
975
What thoughts in my unquiet breast are ris’n,
976
Tending to some relief of our extremes,
977
Or end, though sharp and sad, yet tolerable,
978
As in our evils, and of easier choice.
979
If care of our descent perplex us most,
980
Which must be born to certain woe, devoured
981
By Death at last (and miserable it is
982
To be to others cause of misery,
983
Our own begotten, and of our loins to bring
984
Into this cursèd world a woeful race,
985
That after wretched life must be at last
986
Food for so foul a monster), in thy power
987
It lies, yet ere conception, to prevent
988
The race unblest, to being yet unbegot.
989
Childless thou art: childless remain. So Death
990
Shall be deceived
5707
his glut, and with us two
991
Be forced to satisfy his ravenous maw.
992
But if thou judge it hard and difficult,
993
Conversing, looking, loving, to abstain
994
From love’s due
5708
rites, nuptial embraces sweet,
995
And with desire to languish
5709
without hope,
996
Before the present object
5710
languishing
997
With like desire, which would be misery
998
And torment less than none of what we dread,
999
Then both ourselves and seed at once to free
1000
From what we fear for both, let us make short
5711
—
1001
Let us seek Death, or he not found, supply
1002
With our own hands his office
5712
on ourselves.
1003
Why stand we longer shivering under fears
1004
That show no end but death, and have the power
1005
Of many ways to die the shortest choosing,
1006
Destruction with destruction to destroy?
1007
She ended here, or vehement
5713
despair
1008
Broke off the rest: so much of death her thoughts
1009
Had entertained
5714
as dyed her cheeks with pale.
1010
But Adam, with such counsel nothing swayed,
5715
1011
To better hopes his more attentive
5716
mind
1012
Laboring had raised, and thus to Eve replied:
1013
“Eve, thy contempt of life and pleasure seems
1014
To argue in thee something more sublime
1015
And excellent than what thy mind contemns.
5717
1016
But self-destruction therefore sought refutes
1017
That excellence thought in thee, and implies,
1018
Not thy contempt, but anguish and regret
1019
For loss of life and pleasure overloved.
1020
Or if thou covet death, as utmost end
1021
Of misery, so thinking to evade
1022
The penalty pronounced, doubt not but God
1023
Hath wiselier armed His vengeful ire, than so
1024
To be forestalled. Much more I fear lest death,
1025
So snatched, will not exempt us from the pain
1026
We are by doom
5718
to pay. Rather, such acts
1027
Of contumacy
5719
will provoke the Highest
1028
To make death in us live. Then let us seek
1029
Some safer resolution, which methinks
1030
I have in view, calling to mind with heed
1031
Part of our sentence, that thy seed shall bruise
5720
1032
The serpent’s head. Piteous amends! unless
1033
Be meant, whom I conjecture, our grand foe,
1034
Satan, who in the serpent hath contrived
1035
Against us this deceit. To crush his head
1036
Would be revenge indeed! Which will be lost
1037
By death brought on ourselves, or childless days
1038
1039
Shall ’scape his punishment ordained, and we
1040
Instead shall double ours upon our heads.
1041
No more be mentioned then of violence
1042
Against ourselves, and wilful barrenness,
1043
That cuts us off from hope, and savors
5723
only
1044
1045
Reluctance
5726
against God and His just yoke
1046
Laid on our necks. Remember with what mild
1047
And gracious temper He both heard and judged,
1048
Without wrath or reviling. We expected
1049
Immediate dissolution,
5727
which we thought
1050
Was meant by death that day, when lo, to thee
1051
Pains only in child-bearing were foretold,
1052
And bringing forth, soon recompensed with joy,
1053
Fruit of thy womb. On me the curse aslope
5728
1054
Glanced
5729
on the ground: with labor I must earn
1055
My bread. What harm? Idleness had been worse.