PART VI.

Answered our Sire, ‘Before the living God
All blessed art thou, Eve! for thou art heard.
A spirit stands beside us, gathering
To visible form embodied on the eye,
Sent from the Highest, calling us to kneel;
I read upon his lightning-flashing brows
Palpable revelations.’
While he spake,
Slowly the heavenly Dignity advanced,
Say, rather, grew, on-gliding, like a cloud
Effortless, nor by wing nor limb impelled.
The flame-like form was human, shadowless
As a star nearing; from his forehead rayed
The light wherein he moved; that vision gave
To Adam, till become irradiate
With glory he beheld. As on the heights
Of Sinai, on a later day, the seer
Through luminous veils, dared look upon the One
When Israel hid her eyes, the light of God
Reflected from his brow, so Adam gazed
Upon the Potentate divine.
Then first
Was heard the utterance of that Ministrant,
That touched Isaiah's lips when shadowing forth
Judgments to come.
‘Daughter of Earth! in thee
Dwells truth, even in thy bosom sown the seeds
Thy faith awoke. The glow of hope thou feel'st,
The adoration when the soul forgets
Its human mansion, is from Godhead drawn;
Thy aspiration tending heavenward,
The prescience of its heritage decreed.
And as from thee thy race shall fountain forth
Contaminate in its course, till swept again
To the great deep; even so from thee shall rise
Light-bearers, sent to guide humanity
Errant, then rising brightest when o'ercast
The world, in paths benighted, lost, or bowed
To brute idolatry or sensual sin:
Watchers of truth, that shall draw after them
The intelligence allying men to God;
Until from thee shall rise a Son of Man,
So termed in his humility sublime,
Who shall lead men from many gods to One;
The sun of life, before whose creed benign
Strifes, mist-like, shall recede, till man become
The child of peace and wisdom, in one faith
And hope united, to whose eyes sedate
His unity shall be revealed.
‘Thou, Adam,
Who hast infected healthful thought with doubt,
Dost prove the vanity of questioning.
Darkness as light thy bounded ken obscures.
Even thus are limited thy faculties,
If strengthening faith and purpose be extinct
The deeds of thy firstborn shall prove to thee
The fruitage of the will undisciplined.
Hear thou the lessons for thy life ordained;
To prevent evil, which is bodily want,
By work and provident faculty; to repress
Passions that waste the body as the soul,
And discontent, whose grave is apathy;
To own thy burthens made by failing will;
To feel the just awards of Nature dealt
To thee and all, inspiring gratefulness,
And a humility profound as life;
And to discern, in this, thy mother Earth,
A breathing and substantial thing as thou,
Her child, thy nature bodied in her own.

 ‘Thee to support in this majestic strife
Of thought and action, Eve was sent, with truth
Engraven on her brow. Thou heard'st her words,
Repelled by thee, or from distrust, or pride,
Or self-love, even with their wisdom owned.
Man was not made to root, tree-like, in earth,
Unproved his growth, unflowering; good and ill
Are the fruits grafted on his inner heart,
Wasting or strengthening, as he attunes
His spirit to the harmonies around
Compulsion, as his necessary god,
Doth urge him from his paradise of rest
To prove enduring faculties; to fulfil
His law of obligation, as revealed
To root out thistles from his slothful heart,
As from earth's breast, upraising blossomings
Of reverence, humility, and love,
Sole sacrifice acceptable to God.

 ‘This the substantial knowledge you may pluck;
This the true life-tree, whose enjoyment rests
In the calm shade of peace that falls from it,
As sleep on weariness; all else are visions
That have no basis on mortality.
The paradise of man dwells in repose,
By temperate thought and healthful effort gained
Earth doth attest your powers; you enjoy
The fruits of effort, happier as work
Crowns with reward the provident faculty,
Proving which strengthens and exalts, the doubt,
Or aspiration toward the Life-giver
Of thankfulness, his holiest worship; hope,
Whose emanation grows from feeling faith;
With healthful knowledge found in self-content,
And cheerfulness confiding in the One.

 ‘This earth is lent, not given; a place for strife,
And rest, and joy, alternate shared. Thy race
Shall walk among its great and glorious shapes,
Until, the purpose of their days fulfilled,
They resign place to powers superior,
Who shall tread on their dust and monuments,
Even as you walk above anterior life
Once breathing as yourselves'
Our Ancestor,
Subdued and lowly, answered:—‘Gratitude
To thee, bright ministrant, be given! Each word
My being enters, glorifying till
My human nature a reflection takes
Of thy divinity; yea, breathes the faith
Thou hast embodied
  ‘Lo, Eve! where the Power,
Departing while I speak, his latest rays
Of glory sheds on us; infusing strength,
And an invigorated hope and love
Be thy name ever bless'd among mankind!
Thou who the existent God hast found in us,
Hidden from questioning knowledge, not from love,
Sole emanation of his Deity.

 ‘Thy hopes and fears strove in thy breast untold,
O'ercoming with thy faith, by Him confirmed,
While I too openly confessed to thee
Repinings, so thy nature purer is;
Who proved the home of faith is woman's heart;
Faith, which is power, self-nourished, self-matured;
That through thy race transmitted, shall become
The staff still held, whereon didst thou repose
Great mother of humanity!
‘Be bless'd!
Thou hast the Tempter sole of man o'ercome,
Even the self-love that gives not, but receives;
Fear and distrust, its offspring, clouding all
With a discoloured and unhealthy light.
This is the evil bodied forth by man,
Serpent-like, sinuously twining round
The tree of life; these cease in us to dwell.
Let us depart, O Eve! while strength remains
Within our bosoms, caught from that winged faith,
Even so I name our heavenly ministrant.
Descend we to yon solitary earth
Opening beneath untrodden Glorious stream!
Farewell thy haunts and now denuded banks
That minister to life and joy no more,
Withered and parched as by an angry power,
Whose throne is in the thunder-cloud, that glows
Nightly from the red star whose ardent eye
Sheds influence malign.
'Henceforth, my Eve!
Be the all-sacred days as blessings hailed,
While we watch round their hues and fading lights
Circumfluent darkness hover; the chill air
And warping wind, and cold, and misty rain:
Our obligation and our being's law,
The harmony of action, to tread on
Our paths among life's manifest agencies.
Ours be to cling unto each other more,
A blended life in spirit as in form;
To comfort, chide, support, but never shrink,
Succumb, or, weakest of the weak, despair;
We to whom power is given in the will,
Strengthened while poised by effort.
‘Be it ours
To raise by day and night those stepping-stones
That lead from earth to the Ineffable,
Even holiest prayer; spiritual frankincense,
Ascending from the altar of our hearts
To Him who made us.
'Hand in band, pure Eve!
Descend we to yon plains, strength felt infused
By hope, prophetic of the good to come,
And love that hues a brighter paradise
In us, as the material outward fails;
Love the sole fountain of our life, that were
Else desert, watered with our human tears
Let conscience walk beside us, and fulfil
Duty, till discipline of faith become
Delight in action
'As we tread, each hill
Ascended shall new regions reveal,
Leading us to the Orient, till we move
Toward our God in spirit, while we draw
Fresh sustenance from earth by effort gained.
The present day our own, by labour made,
Each hour a portioned duty; our one life
A circle rounded by the light and shade;
Resigned to leave the morrow and its joys,
Trials, or blessing, to His will supreme
Who gave us day and life.&rsquo
Then reverently
Spake our great Mother, offering her love
To visible earth; feeling in us innate,
Heart-gushings poured before the beautiful,
That blend our life with Nature's
She gazed on
A scene that might have woke a soul within
Wrapt contemplation stayed for ever there
Red twilight flushed the ethereal azure depths,
And cast its veils of beauty upon earth,
While opening a paradise in heaven
Steeped in rose-hues; vistas of light too bright
For aught but Angels' tread.
But there the note
Of change was felt and heard. The mountains looked
Colder in the chill air; the trees, their robes
Of red leaves fallen, showed their naked limbs,
Conscious of their decadence; the flowers drooped,
As mourning joy that could return no more;
The anemone, tinted like the delicate blush
On maiden's cheek that veils inward decay,
Folded her blossom; the rich hyacinth
Braided her odorous tresses; the full rose
Slept in voluptuous beauty; on the stream,
The water-lily, child of light and air,
Folded her cup of pearl 'mid her bread leaves
They felt a shadow o'er the sun, and drew
Closer their vesture round them from the cloud
That, veil-like, in the west transparent fell,
Dissolving in its tears
The slanting sun
Levelled long rays of light athwart the slopes,
Entering the autumnal foliage wet with rain,
Blended with amaranthine hue, that shed
A glory through their boughs. Respiring trees
Stood forth in lustrous light, each leaflet gemmed,
That tinted the greensward like floors of heaven,
Flashing on plants low drooping their steeped heads
Heavy with breathing odours. There shone forth
The arbutus-blossoms, shedding crimson light;
There the deep-tinted orange glowed in gold
Green arcades opened upon leafy shrines,
Where veneration dwelt in later time,
Till the long-columned aisle was moulded forth
From mellowing stone, the foliated arch,
The embowed and mossy roof on grey trunks reared,
That blossomed in acanthine capitals;
Where sun-hued oriels shed religious light,
Until the fane amid dim forests rose
Attuned to Nature's melodies, while within
The organ drew from mountain-tones, and falls
Of solemn waters, and the thunder-roll,
A Spirit which made prostrate man confess
The present God was there.
On the red sky
The massive stone-pines raised their orbèd shields,
And the plumed palms like sentinels near them stood,
Motionless in mid air, while the grey clouds
On the horizon, in retiring state
Lingered, as holding commune o'er the works
Of the departed day
The river, hued
With twilight-tint and shadow blending, looked
Like a chasm rent in earth, filled up with sky
Vales opened from its banks their heaving breasts
Of amaranth or asphodel, abodes
For demigods or heroes; such as men
Pictured, in after days, beyond the grave,
Elysium, whose name instilled repose;
Fortunate plains! along whose flowery banks
The waters, deep of calm Oblivion rolled;
Where soundlessly the lotos floated on,
Pale as the shades that wandered on its shore;
Waters that asked the wearied heart to leave
Its burden there, to drink away life's grief,
Human ingratitude and forgetfulness!
 Thus passed in paradise the latest hour;
So looked the earth and stream when Eve dwelt there
For the last time, and bade her last farewell
Even while she gazed, deep sighs in words respired,
Or, rather, sobbing accents that made dim
The eyes' veiled azure, when the folding lids
Leaf-like decline, the fountains of the heart
Welled from their inmost depths. She turned to him
Ever beside her as he led her on;
Her arm upon his stately shoulder leaned,
As if her strength and sole support were there.

 ‘Ere we for ever part from Paradise,
Let us, O Adam! linger, to pour forth
The human yearnings of our love to earth,
For, oh! I feel the truth, that we are one,
Again to sleep within her parent breast.

 ‘Farewell, ye over-canopying trees!
That breathe above us with your watchful look
Of calm protection and repose!—farewell,
Ye flowers and plants! from your bright faces shed
Light, blossoming, and joy; that give and take
The impress of a deeper tone, in us
Indwelling, drawn less from our life than yours,
For while we bless your beauty we become
Holier while gazing
‘Farewell, glorious stream,
On whose loved banks I watched the waters flowing
As silent and as deep as was my joy;
Farewell, ye leafy coverts! where we stood
Together watching Nature with one heart,
Until we saw God's face reflected there;
Where the pure images of beautiful things
Entered our being, making us as one
With that we bless'd, our spirits' changeful moods
Growing forth from the time and moving scene;
The hope and strength from morning, the full love
Drank from glad day, the overflowing joy
Glorifying all we saw; the calmer thought
By twilight toned, tempering the heart to rest
And voiceless adoration, when the stars
Looked down on us through veils of light withdrawn,
And told the hour of prayer; when night advanced,
The comforter, with silent steps to give
The antidote for human ills in sleep.’

 Her voice ceased, drowned in failing utterance,
As the air dies on banks of fainting flowers
The last words vibrated on Adam's ear,
Felt in his bosom with a thrilling sense
Of sorrow tempered to a softened joy
Then, as a melody heard deep and full,
His voice arose, and bore the expiring chant,
Ere failed its latest cadence:
‘And all hail!
Ye gloomier regions opening afar,
Dark, waste, and wild, and gleamingly revealed
By lightnings! to inhabit ye we come,
And we shall bring minds disciplined to live
In your stern solitudes, until instilled
With patience, hope, and fortitude, and love
That hues the face of things with her own light,
And the intuitive faith to feel the good
In the apparent ill, we test our strength;
Powers that may raise us to sublimer life
If God approve us here.
‘My Eve! droop not;
Behold the solemn clouds are gathering round,
And, the glad light withheld in their vast breasts,
Their shadows darken o'er us. The winds pass
Wailing, as if they shared our mortal grief,
Or caught from us despondent tones. Yon firs,
Their dark brows frowning o'er the imminent steep,
Look mystery on us, and the sighing airs
Pass through their moaning arms, as if they held
Some secret of the coming or the past,
They shudderingly told.
‘We will not, Eve,
From Paradise be driven, but depart;
Henceforth our passing joys are magnified
Feeling their worth; our sorrows holier made
In sharing them.’
She heard and was confirmed,
For the deep voice of truth from Adam's heart
In hers found deeper echo. She upraised
Her head from his broad shoulder, gathering up
The cloud of golden hair that o'er it flaked
In radiant threads of sunlight. Wistfully,
With a last gaze she watched the wood, the stream
In which heaven saw its face, the banks whereon
She first awaked; life's infinite grief and joy
Rose on her eyes, until their vision dimmed,
O'erclouded by her thickly-gushing tears.
 She turned away, and felt that turning was
For ever; the flower-coronal she wove
Dropped from her fingers; the anemonè,
Emblem of love forsaken, drooped; the rose
And the neglected myrtle from the ground
Looked with appealing beauty. One pale flower
She gathered, and pressed silently to her heart,—
The asphodel, the ineffaceable type
Of an immortal grief.
Then murmured forth
Audible words, or sighs that formed themselves
In broken accents, as her hand, upraised,
Waved toward the fading land of Paradise,
Now blending with the twilight's gorgeousness:
‘Farewell, loved Eden! God, be Thou our guide!’

She scarce had ended when the earth, erewhile
Autumnal-hued, in beauty wild and sad,
Faded, and merged itself in sandy wastes;
As, in a later age, the Egyptian vale
Paled, in the veined and azure arms of Nile
No more encircled, shrunk and scorched beneath
Red Typhon's fiery eye; or when he rode
Whirl winds adust, or when the mirage, spread
In living motion, mocked that stream divine
Even thus the scene, steadfast erewhile and fixed,
Impalpable grew, then movement slowly rose
In form and substance till then motionless.
Like imagery of some mighty dream,
Rivers, and woods, and hills unstable now,
Silently glided, bearing on those forms
Sunk amid gathering clouds; as from our earth
The visages of glorious shapes are seen
In twilight realm or terraced rampart bright,
Following the presence of the kingly Day
Enthroned o'er other climes.
Even while I gazed,
As on a thing unsettled, unbelieved,
Those figures grew more dim and undefined,
In distance still receding. The fixed forms
Of hills, their heads in vaporous mist confused,
Folded themselves like giants swathed in clouds;
Black woods, engulfed in deeper darkness, rolled,
In mingled chaos fading from the view.

 And the majestic Vision I had seen,
Realities of doom before me proved,
Revealments heard from living forms that were;
The slow creation and development
Of sentient life, the growth of earth and man;
Decadence felt, the inward Voices heard,
Spiritual or real; the restless strife
With self-sown evil, vanquished or subdued;
And the sublime endurance, whose reward
Is proved within us given, resolved to air:
A vision of reality that was,
Melted again with dreams of phantasy.