BOOK TWELFTH
��245
��Lay sleeping ran before, but found her
waked ;
And thus with words not sad she him re- ceived:
"Whence thou return'st and whither went'st I know ; 610
For God is also in sleep, and dreams ad- vise, Which he hath sent propitious, some great
good Presaging, since, with sorrow and heart's
distress
Wearied, I fell asleep. But now lead on; In me is no delay; with thee to go Is to stay here ; without thee here to stay Is to go hence unwilling; thou to me Art all things under Heaven, all places
thou, Who for my wilful crime art banished
hence.
This further consolation yet secure 620
I carry hence: though all by me is lost, Such favour I unworthy am voutsafed, By me the Promised Seed shall all restore." So spake our mother Eve; and Adam
heard Well pleased, but answered not; for now
too nigh The Archangel stood, and from the other
hill
To their fixed station, all in bright array, The Cherubim descended, on the ground Gliding mete'orous, as evening mist
��Risen from a river o'er the marish glides, And gathers ground fast at the labourer's heel 63 1
Homeward returning. High in front ad- vanced, The brandished sword of God before them
blazed,
Fierce as a comet; which with torrid heat, And vapour as the Libyan air adust, Began to parch that temperate clime;
whereat
In either hand the hastening Angel caught Our lingering Parents, and to the eastern
gate
Led them direct, and down the cliff as fast To the subjected plain then disap- peared. 640 They, looking back, all the eastern side
beheld
Of Paradise, so late their happy seat, Waved over by that flaming brand; the
te ladful faces thronged and fiery
arms. Some natural tears they dropped, but
wiped them soon; The world was all before them, where to
choose Their place of rest, and Providence their
guide. They, hand in hand, with wandering steps
and slow, Through Eden took their solitary way.
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