To discover your needs, fulfill your dreams,
Offer you anything your heart desires.
Not long ago I sat by his side, basking in bliss. 550
He made clear my mission to minister to you
And teach you the truth of this divine tree.
He commands you to taste this fair fruit
That he knows you crave. Its gifts are legion:
Your strength will surge, your mind magnify, 555
Your spirit exult, your body grow beautiful.
You will taste the truth and discover the wonders
Revealed to you. You will want no wealth
When you have gained the grace and glory
This fruit contains. You have worked God’s will, 560
Accomplished his ends. You are perfect and precious
To your loving Lord. I have heard him speak
Of your way of life, proudly praising
Your words and works. Now he wants you to hear
His messenger’s commands and carry them out 565
In this lovely country. This earth is endless,
Vital and green under God’s heaven.
The Lord himself hesitates to travel
Such a long, hard road down from heaven,
So he sent me here as his faithful servant 570
To speak with you now about his mission,
Teaching you the truth of this enabling tree
By my wise words and cunning thought.
Carry out his command. Take this fruit!
Bite it! Taste it! Your mind will expand, 575
Your heart enlarge, your form grow fair.
This is God’s gift from his home in heaven.”
Adam answered the serpent where he stood,
Exercising faithfully his own free will,
Alive to the effect of his making a choice: 580
“When I listened to the solemn voice of the Lord,
He gave me this land with commandments to keep
And offered me Eve as my beauty-bright wife.
He warned me not to be betrayed or bedeviled,
Risking ruin for this dangerous fruit, 585
Saying that whoever chooses evil in his heart
Will inhabit hell, a dark house of pain.
It’s difficult to know what your purpose is.
Are you an angelic messenger from heaven
Or some devious liar with a hellish plan? 590
Your so-called mission doesn’t make much sense.
Your tongue is twisted, your words are bewildering.
I remember what our Lord and Savior said
When I saw him last: he ordered me plainly
To honor his word and keep his commands. 595
You don’t look much like an angel from heaven,
Nor do you offer any token of God’s favor,
So I’m sorry to say I can’t swallow your scheme.
You should go away. I trust the power and truth
Of the Master who made me with his own hands, 600
Created me from clay, who raised up this woman
Out of my rib. He is able to bestow his favors
From highest heaven without sending a subordinate.”
Then the angry demon turned to Eve,
Beautifully formed, threatening harm to her 605
And all the children of earth to come,
Saying, “I know that God will be enraged
With both of you for being so stubborn,
When I fly home to heaven on the long road
And tell him you’ve rejected the righteous command 610
That he offered from the east. He will rise up in rage,
Forced to follow his own messenger here
Into Eden. I can’t predict what God will do,
But I know he will become a menace to you
Unless you accept this offer, a willing woman, 615
Obey these words and reach for a remedy,
Following his command without hesitation,
Escaping the pain of his punishing wrath.
If you listen to me, I’ll show you the way.
Eat this fruit, taste its sweetness, 620
Savor its power to open your eyes,
So that you can see beyond yourself,
Beyond this world to the throne of God
And curry favor with your own Creator.
You will also be able to lord it over Adam, 625
Control his desire, determine his will,
If that’s what you want and he trusts your words.
Just tell your husband you have in your heart
Fulfilled God’s purpose. He’ll believe in you
And give up his stubborn opposition and strife. 630
We can counsel him together, coax him carefully
To renounce his resistance, lest you should both
Prove loathsome to your Lord. Lean to the law,
O brightest and best of women—listen to me.
If you perform God’s purpose, I will come to your aid 635
In concealing Adam’s insults, his rebellious replies,
His arrogant, wounding words to God’s servant.
He thinks me malicious, calls me a liar,
Believes I have some secret, malevolent scheme,
And says unashamedly that I am no angel. 640
But I have served a long life in heaven
With my angelic thanes, loyal to the Lord.
I know them well. I’m not just some devil.”
So the enemy of God urged Eve on,
The deceitful serpent, coaxing her toward evil 645
With his tempting lies until his devious words
Grew hot in her heart, surging up in her mind.
She began to surrender. Her will was weaker,
Her nature more yielding, her promises more pliant
Under God’s shaping plan, so she was swept along 650
By the devil’s desires, his pernicious plot.
She took from the fiend the fatal fruit
From the tree of death against God’s word.
No worse deed was ever conceived.
It’s a great wonder that eternal God, 655
The Prince of peace, would endure such enmity,
And suffer his servants to be led astray
By that subtle demon who seduced Eve,
Marking mankind for endless suffering.
Then Eve ate the fruit, swallowing sin, 660
Tasting death, against the will
And word of the Lord. Through the gift
Of that fiend, God’s foe, who beguiled her
With winsome words, betrayed her with lies,
Eve’s eyes were empowered. She seemed to see 665
The brightness and beauty of heaven and earth,
The power and glory of God’s creation,
Not through her own human eyes and mind,
But through the demon’s grafted gaze
And his blazing vision, a devious dream. 670
Then the fiend we have forsworn spoke—
His counsel was cunning, his word-gift no good:
“Darling Eve, now that you’ve drunk this nectar,
Tasting the fruit, trusting my words,
You can see for yourself that your form is fairer, 675
Your beauty brighter, your goodness more gracious.
Now the light before and within you
Beams from your body, blazes from your eyes.
The world rejoices in your waking radiance.
Use this for a purpose—tell Adam your tale. 680
Explain how you acquired such subtle vision
After hearing and heeding my wise counsel.
Offer him this promise: if he yearns for the light
That he sees in your eyes and will obey me now,
Then I will hold him blameless for his blasphemies, 685
Even though he deserves no redeeming pardon
For h
is hateful words. I will also offer him
A small portion of what I gave to you,
The gift of God’s vision, the eyes of light.”
So now the children of Eve know sin 690
When they fall as all of mankind must,
Though they may find through their suffering
And amending their ways their Maker’s mercy
And be restored to their Lord again.
So Eve came to Adam, carrying dark fruit 695
And the demon’s words—breathtaking, beautiful—
The fairest woman in this new world,
Because she was shaped by the hand of God,
Even though she was seduced and snared
By the devil’s deceit into a web of sin. 700
So both were unblessed, losing God’s favor,
Forfeiting heaven for many seasons.
We mourn this loss. Woe to the one
Who doesn’t hear or heed this lesson,
Who still has a chance to make a choice. 705
Eve carried a sumptuous secret in her hands
And a tempting truth hidden in her heart—
The delicious fruit of the tree of death,
Which God had forbidden his children to eat.
That unblessed apple was the source and sign 710
Of more sin to come. God set the terms:
His servants did not have to suffer death—
They could rise to the richness of heaven’s hold
If they refused the bait of that bitter fruit.
God’s enemy seduced Adam and Eve 715
And all of mankind. The woman’s mind
Was more malleable to him, her heart
More hospitable to his concealed cunning.
She was led to believe that the deceitful devil
Was a divine messenger sent from God. 720
His tongue seemed truthful, his words wise,
His sign spectacular. She sidled up
To her lord and master, saying to Adam:
“Adam, my lord, this fruit is so sweet—
It’s a taste of bliss and a pleasure to eat. 725
It will warm your heart and open your eyes
To the world’s brightness. God’s beautiful angel
Is everything he claims. By his radiant robes
I can see that he’s our Maker’s messenger,
Keeping his counsel, bearing us delicious, 730
Invisible truths from the King of heaven.
He’s better a friend than an adamant foe.
If you have spoken to him harshly today,
He will forgive you for your heart’s bitter hatred,
If we promise to serve him and work his will. 735
What will we gain by quarreling with an angel?
It bedevils our chances for peace in paradise.
He can plead our case with almighty God.
With my unveiled eyes, I can see the Lord
Who shaped this world, surrounded by splendor, 740
Gathered in glory in the south-east of heaven,
Encircled by angels in feathered cloaks.
Who could offer such an insightful vision,
If not God? Who could offer such harmonies
To my human hearing? The Shaper’s songs 745
And the angels’ wings are expanding my sight.
This is no scheme. My mind is a miracle—
Since I ate the apple, my eyes are enlightened.
Here, take this fruit I hold in my hands.
I offer it openly. Share my vision. 750
Taste this greatness. I believe it’s brought
From the hand of God by his own command
Through this mighty messenger. His words are wise.
He tells nothing but the truth. Take a bite!
Nothing else on earth is equal to this. 755
As the angel says, it’s a gift from God.”
Eve incessantly urged Adam all day long
With words thick and fast to taste the fruit.
This lure was aimed at expanding love
Or sharing blame. That bite would turn bitter 760
As they betrayed their Lord. The evil angel
Encouraged them both to seize the moment
And sate their desires with a taste of sweetness,
The drink of death. To ease his envy,
He meant to draw mankind into mortal error, 765
To lead both Adam and Eve astray,
Snared in sin and bound for slaughter.
That twisted trickster, that hideous hell-hound,
Knew that they would discover God’s wrath
And destroy their deed to a home in heaven. 770
That fiend offered Eve his subtle lies,
Bending her back to his own way of being.
He delighted in deceiving the loveliest of women
Into forfeiting God’s favor. Seduced to sin,
She sold her will and spoke his words, 775
Betraying her heart and God’s handiwork.
His beautiful bride urged Adam on
To share the fruit, till his spirit softened,
And trusting her undaunted loyalty and love,
He took the fruit. He ate the apple 780
And lost himself. She little knew
That mankind would suffer sin endlessly
After taking a taste of that bitter fruit.
She thought she would gain God’s favor
In obeying his messenger’s winsome words. 785
She talked her way into Adam’s trust,
Until her husband followed his heart
And wound his will to her own desires.
His act was an invitation out of Eden.
What he took from Eve was death and damnation, 790
A savage sleep and a demon-dream,
The devil’s deceit and a home in hell,
Though in name and nature, it seemed just fruit.
That apple was endless agony and exile,
Suffering on earth and torment in hell. 795
With a shared bite of that unholy fruit,
They marked themselves and all mankind
With bitter death. They murdered the future.
The cruel messenger cavorted around them,
Skipping in sin, exulting in evil, 800
Offering thanks to his lord, Satan, saying:
“Now I have fully worked your will,
Fulfilling your desire since the day we fell.
At last I’ve led Adam and Eve astray.
They’ve broken their bond, forsaken their Lord, 805
Abandoned his word, his trust and teaching,
Trading bliss for bale, rejoicing for wrath.
Now they will find a hard path to heaven
And a broad road to hell. Your envy is ended,
Your heart’s pain has perished. Ignominy is over. 810
You don’t have to grieve that your given place
In heaven is handed over to usurping mankind,
While you lie locked in hell’s hot torment
With a host of fiends who followed you down,
Enthralled with your pride. God flew into a rage 815
When we refused to bow down before him
And beg for his blessing. But it was not our want
To render him homage. We counted the cost
And found it too great. Better freedom in hell
Than servitude in heaven. God drove us down 820
In his unchecked anger, his fiendish fury,
Hurling bold angels into the fiery abyss,
The blaze and burn of mind and bone,
So he could restore the thrones of heaven,
Handing our place to that muddle of mankind. 825
We’ve marred his grace and emptied his thrones
By misleading man. It’s a devil’s delight!
We’ve caused God double trouble—
The children of men have lost their h
ope
Of heaven, sinners bound for hell-fire, 830
Bypassing bliss—and we’ve perverted God’s purpose,
Making the Lord lament his precious loss.
Our Maker will mourn that he ever made man.
Whatever we suffer is salved in Adam,
Eased with Eve, as they will know pain, 835
Passion, and perdition instead of paradise.
The damnation of man has healed our hearts
Since we have taken vengeance with victory
In our endless conflict with our cruel Creator.
We’ve endured enough. Now I’m headed home 840
To greet you, my lord, the great Satan,
Shackled in black hell in a clutch of fire.”
The meanest of messengers, that fierce fiend,
Once more flew down to the doors of hell
To be greeted by flames where his master lay, 845
Chafing at his bonds, chained to the blaze.
Then Adam and Eve began grieving.
They sorrowed and spoke sharp words of woe,
Discovering the fear that came with the fruit,
The darkness of mind that death portended. 850
They dreaded the righteous wrath of God,
Realizing that they had defied his command.
The woman wailed, lamenting her loss,
Reproaching herself, repenting her choice,
When she saw the radiance dim and disappear, 855
The once bright sign from the false angel,
The faithless demon who led them on
With his devious counsel into dark calamity,
Sin and shame, humiliation and hell.
Sorrow smoked and seethed in their hearts. 860
Sometimes the married pair prayed together,
Calling on their Creator to punish them properly
For breaking his command. Suddenly they saw
The blunt truth that their bodies were bare.
They needed no house and knew no toil 865
In that precious land. They could have lived well,
If only they had learned to obey God’s command.
Bound for misery, they heaped blame
On one another. Adam spoke up:
“O Eve, you have by your egregious sin 870
Marked us forever bound for death.
Can you see our destiny, the dark abyss,
The fierce flames of ruinous hell?
Can you hear it raging? Heaven’s kingdom
Is unlike that unholy fire. Here is the best land 875
We might have held, rejoicing forever
In this radiant land, God’s gift to us,
If you had not listened to that inveterate liar
Who tempted us to turn against our Lord,
Following that monster instead of our Master. 880
Now we sorrow in sin and fear our fate
Because God warned us to guard religiously
The Complete Old English Poems Page 13
