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
619
Appointed, which declares
3065
his dignity,
620
And the regard
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of Heav’n on all his ways,
621
While other animals unactive range,
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622
And of their doings God takes no account.
623
To-morrow, ere fresh morning streak the east
624
With first approach of light, we must be ris’n,
625
And at our pleasant labor, to reform
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626
Yon flow’ry arbors, yonder alleys
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green,
627
Our walk at noon, with branches overgrown,
628
That mock our scant manuring,
3070
and require
629
More hands than ours to lop their wanton
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growth.
630
Those blossoms also, and those dropping gums,
631
That lie bestrewn, unsightly and unsmooth,
632
Ask riddance, if we mean to tread with ease.
633
Meanwhile, as Nature wills, night bids us rest.
634
To whom thus Eve, with perfect beauty adorned:
635
“My author and disposer, what thou bid’st
636
Unargued I obey. So God ordains:
637
God is thy law, thou mine. To know no more
638
Is woman’s happiest knowledge, and her praise.
639
With thee conversing I forget all time;
640
All seasons, and their change, all please alike.
641
Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet,
642
With charm
3072
of earliest birds. Pleasant the sun,
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When first on this delightful land he spreads
644
His orient
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beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flow’r,
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Glistering with dew. Fragrant the fertile earth
646
After soft showers, and sweet the coming on
647
Of grateful
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evening mild, then silent night,
648
With this her solemn bird, and this fair moon,
649
And these the gems of Heav’n, her starry train.
650
But neither breath of morn, when she ascends
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With charm
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of earliest birds, nor rising sun
652
On this delightful land, nor herb, fruit, flow’r,
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Glistering with dew, nor fragrance after showers,
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Nor grateful ev’ning mild, nor silent night,
655
With this her solemn bird, nor walk by moon,
656
Or glittering star-light, without thee is sweet.
657
“But wherefore all night long shine these? For whom
658
This glorious sight, when sleep hath shut all eyes?
659
To whom our general
3076
ancestor replied:
660
“Daughter of God and man, accomplished
3077
Eve,
661
These have their course to finish round the earth,
662
By morrow ev’ning, and from land to land
663
In order, though to nations yet unborn.
664
665
Lest total darkness should by night regain
666
Her old possession, and extinguish life
667
In Nature and all things, which these soft fires
668
669
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Temper or nourish, or in part shed down
671
672
On earth, made hereby apter
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to receive
673
Perfection from the sun’s more potent
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ray.
674
These then, though unbeheld in deep of night,
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Shine not in vain, nor think,
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though men were
676
That Heav’n would want
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spectators, God want praise.
677
Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth
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Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep:
679
All these with ceaseless praise His works behold
680
Both day and night. How often from the steep
3091
681
Of echoing hill or thicket have we heard
682
Celestial voices to the midnight air,
683
Sole, or responsive each to others’ note,
684
Singing their great Creator? Oft in bands
685
While they keep watch, or nightly rounding walk,
3092
686
With Heav’nly touch of instrumental sounds
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In full harmonic number
3093
joined, their songs
688
Divide
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the night, and lift our thoughts to Heav’n.
689
Thus talking, hand in hand alone they passed
690
On to their blissful bower. It was a place
691
Chosen by the sov’reign Planter,
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when He framed
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All things to man’s delightful use. The roof
693
Of thickest covert
3096
was inwoven shade,
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Laurel and myrtle, and what higher grew
695
Of firm and fragrant leaf, on either side
696
Acanthus, and each odorous bushy shrub,
697
Fenced up the verdant wall. Each beauteous flow’r,
698
Iris all hues, roses, and jessamin,
699
Reared high their flourished
3097
heads between, and wrought
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700
Mosaic. Underfoot the violet,
701
Crocus, and hyacinth, with rich inlay
702
Broidered
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the ground, more colored than with stone
703
Of costliest emblem.
3100
Other creature here,
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Bird, beast, insect, or worm, durst enter none,
705
Such was their awe of man. In shadier bower
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More sacred and sequestered, though but feigned,
3101
707
Pan or Sylvanus never slept, nor nymph