_Eve._ Ay, and the tears Running, as it might seem, my life from me, They run so fast and warm. Let me lie so, And weep so, as if in a dream or prayer, Unfastening, clasp by clasp, the hard tight thought Which clipped my heart and showed me evermore Loathed of thy justice as I loathe the snake, And as the pure ones loathe our sin. To-day, All day, beloved, as we fled across This desolating radiance cast by swords Not suns,--my lips prayed soundless to myself, Striking against each other--"O Lord God!" ('Twas so I prayed) "I ask Thee by my sin, "And by thy curse, and by thy blameless heavens, "Make dreadful haste to hide me from thy face "And from the face of my beloved here "For whom I am no helpmeet, quick away "Into the new dark mystery of death! "I will lie still there, I will make no plaint, "I will not sigh, nor sob, nor speak a word, "Nor struggle to come back beneath the sun "Where peradventure I might sin anew "Against thy mercy and his pleasure. Death, "O death, whatever it be, is good enough "For such as I am: while for Adam here, "No voice shall say again, in heaven or earth, "_It is not good for him to be alone_." _Adam._ And was it good for such a prayer to pass, My unkind Eve, betwixt our mutual lives? If I am exiled, must I be bereaved? _Eve._ 'Twas an ill prayer: it shall be prayed no more; And God did use it like a foolishness, Giving no answer. Now my heart has grown Too high and strong for such a foolish prayer, Love makes it strong and since I was the first In the transgression, with a steady foot I will be first to tread from this sword-glare Into the outer darkness of the waste,-- And thus I do it. _Adam._ Thus I follow thee, As erewhile in the sin.--What sounds! what sounds! I feel a music which comes straight from heaven, As tender as a watering dew. _Eve._ I think That angels--not those guarding Paradise,-- But the love-angels, who came erst to us, And when we said 'GOD,' fainted unawares Back from our mortal presence unto God, (As if he drew them inward in a breath) His name being heard of them,--I think that they With sliding voices lean from heavenly towers, Invisible but gracious. Hark--how soft! CHORUS OF INVISIBLE ANGELS. _Faint and tender._ Mortal man and woman, Go upon your travel! Heaven assist the human Smoothly to unravel All that web of pain Wherein ye are holden. Do ye know our voices Chanting down the Golden? Do ye guess our choice is, Being unbeholden, To be hearkened by you yet again? This pure door of opal God hath shut between us,-- Us, his shining people, You, who once have seen us And are blinded new! Yet, across the doorway, Past the silence reaching, Farewells evermore may, Blessing in the teaching, Glide from us to you.