L ILITH or Eve, I was before the flood,
And Eden grew the palace of my sin
Wherewith I stirred the lust that slumbered in
The then unquickened furnace of man's blood;
Kissing my mouth he saw that ill was good,
Lust was Love's brother, Vice to Virtue kin;
God gave into my hand all things to win;
Between him and man's captive soul I stood.

So still I reign, for still I weave a snare
With the hot snakes of my lascivious hair,
Chain with my arms his body and fulfil
His soul with poison that my lips distil;
For God is with me, God who for my right
Of old took arms against the Sodomite!