Far from Eden now, beclothed and by a fire sat
Warming themselves, whereas the simple light
Of the sun had sufficient been before,
Eve, and husband Adam, first created and higher esteemed by
Raphael, yet equally or further fallen than the
Human race's mother, as beyond Death's dreadful dart and
God's decree he loved her, sat with faces like rivers' eddies;
Erewhile, eyes drifting on the swirls of flames, Eve spoke:—
"Head to my heart, borne from thy bone, I once described
My moments before I met thee, how in some singing
Pool sprung from a private cave my reflection transfixed me and
I would have stayed pining for that beauty,
Save some warning voice led me away and into your embrace;
Sin must have been inside some secret place of mine from the
Start, for a lie told I, as there was no voice
Of unknown origin, nay, for the warning's origin was
Clearer than the liquid plain
Into which I had longed—an elegant-necked bird,
With a golden bell of a beak, broke,
A sudden blow, the great wings beating, the stillness with
A fearsome voice that resonated in my bones as the
Almighty's mayhaps in yours, and with its calling
Clear my path was laid, directed by thunderous wing claps,
I towards you was driven—forgive me, this truth has
Weighed heavy on my heart—long before that snake
Any falsehoods to me spoke, I said falsehoods to you—
Assailed, towards you I was harried, I was not led
And did not follow a hidden voice, but instead a swan or
Goose drove me from peace to love,
From who I was cleft and to whom I clove; my head,
My guide, I lied."

Before her outstretched hand could
Reach the pain she sought in the fire, in
Movement so fast and certain that if differently placed
In time may have spared the world death and mankind alike,
Adam seized her gentle hand and spoke:— "My heart,
My other half, you engendered death and enabled him passage,
And yet I cannot bear to be angry at you, as my
Forgiveness of you is like the inexorable force that
Keeps us bound to this earth—I will exonerate you
Of all wrongdoing because being parted from you
Leaves me delirious and cold, ever since I saw you stumble out
Of the woods, gentle breast heaving in exertion as you fled some
Ungainly beast that berated you with its wings; I
Caught you in a sudden stupor and, as soon as your fainted body
Yielded to gravity's pull and my touch, the beast fled whence,
Calling its terrible cry, which at first I thought
Of defeat but rang more triumphant than it ought if so, until
It seemed to be the first to break the Almighty's laws by
Pulling its large body into the air, with nothing like
The angels' ease, upon which point I carried you to our first
Bower, feathers falling from our wake, and wove you a crown
While you slept, of rose, camelia, verbena, and daisy, and
From thence committed myself to care of you."

As the moon overhead rose and watched the original lovers
Rediscover their bond, the animals, no longer bound to
Obey a master, called and caterwalled a cacaphony,
Within which neither Adam nor Eve commented on
The familiar honking.