Poem 8

mountain, whose high top was plain, A circuit wide, enclosed, with goodliest trees Planted, with walks and bowers, that what I saw Of Earth before scarce pleasant seemed. Each tree Loaden with fairest fruit, that hung to the eye Tempting, stirred in me sudden appetite To pluck and eat; whereat I waked, and found Before mine eyes all real, as the dream Had lively shadowed. Here had new begun My wandering, had not He, who was my guide Up hither, from among the trees appeared, Presence Divine. Rejoicing, but with awe, In adoration at his feet I fell Submiss. He reared me, and, ‘Whom thou sought’st I am,’ Said mildly, ‘Author of all this thou seest Above, or round about thee, or beneath. This Paradise I give thee; count it thine To till and keep, and of the fruit to eat: Of every tree that in the garden grows Eat freely with glad heart; fear here no dearth. But of the Tree whose operation brings Knowledge of good and ill, which I have set, The pledge of thy obedience and thy faith, Amid the garden by the Tree of Life, Remember what I warn thee, shun to taste, And shun the bitter consequence: for know, The day thou eat’st thereof, my sole command Transgressed, inevitably thou shalt die, From that day mortal, and this happy state Shalt lose, expelled from hence into a world Of woe and sorrow.’ Sternly he pronounced The rigid interdiction, which resounds Yet dreadful in mine ear, though in my choice Not to incur; but soon his clear aspect Returned, and gracious purpose thus renewed: ‘Not only these fair bounds, but all the Earth To thee and to thy race I give; as lords Possess it, and all things that therein live, Or live in sea or air⁠—beast, fish, and fowl. In sign whereof, each bird, and beast behold After their kinds; I bring them to receive From thee their names, and pay thee fealty With low subjection; understand the same Of fish within their watery residence, Not hither summoned, since they cannot change Their element to draw the thinner air.’ As thus he spake, each bird and beast behold Approaching two and two; these cowering low With blandishment; each bird stooped on his wing. I named them as they passed, and understood Their nature; with such knowledge God endued My sudden apprehension. But in these I found