THE BIRTH OF JEALOUSY

With brooding mien and sultry eyes,

Outside the gates of Paradise

Eve sat, and fed the faggot flame

That lit the path whence Adam came.

( Strange are the workings of a woman's mind. )

His giant shade preceded him,

Along the pathway green, and dim;

She heard his swift approaching tread,

But still she sat with drooping head.

( Dark are the jungles of unhappy thought. )

He kissed her mouth, and gazed within

Her troubled eyes; for since their sin,

His love had grown a thousand fold.

But Eve drew back; her face was cold.

( Oh, who can read the cipher of a soul. )

‘ Now art thou mourning still, sweet wife?’

Spake Adam tenderly,‘ the life

Of our lost Eden? Why, in THEE

All Paradise remains for me.’

( Deep, deep the currents in a strong man's heart. )

‘ The serpent whispered Lilith's name:

(‘ Twas thus he drove me to my shame )

Pluck yonder fruit, he said, and know,

How Adam loved HER, long ago.

( Fools, fools, who wander searching after pain. )

‘ I ate; and like an ancient scroll,

I saw that other life unroll;

I saw thee, Adam, far from here

With Lilith on a wondrous sphere.

( Bold, bold, the daring of a jealous heart. )

‘ Nay, tell me not I dreamed it all;

Last night in sleep thou didst let fall

Her name in tenderness; I bowed

My stricken head and cried aloud.

( Vast, vast the torment of a self-made woe. )

‘ And it was then, and not before,

That Eden shut and barred its door.

Alone in God's great world I seemed,

Whilst thou of thy lost Lilith dreamed.

( Oh, who can measure such wide loneliness. )

‘ Now every little breeze that sings,

Sighs Lilith, like thy whisperings.

Oh, where can sorrow hide its face,

When Lilith, Lilith, fills all space?’

( And Adam in the darkness spake no word. )