Eve. Unkind! wilt thou forsake me, in distress, [Kneeling.
For that which now is past me to redress? 
I have misdone, and I endure the smart,
Loth to acknowledge, but more loth to part. 
The blame be mine; you warned, and I refused: 
What would you more?  I have myself accused. 
Was plighted faith so weakly sealed above,
That, for one error, I must lose your love? 
Had you so erred, I should have been more kind,
Than to add pain to an afflicted mind.

Adam. You’re grown much humbler than you were before; I pardon you; but see my face no more.

Eve. Vain pardon, which includes a greater ill;
Be still displeased, but let me see you still. 
Without your much-loved sight I cannot live;
You more than kill me, if you so forgive. 
The beasts, since we are fallen, their lords despise;
And, passing, look at me with glaring eyes: 
Must I then wander helpless, and alone? 
You’ll pity me, too late, when I am gone.

Adam. Your penitence does my compassion move; As you deserve it, I may give my love.

Eve. On me, alone, let heaven’s displeasure fall; You merit none, and I deserve it all.

Adam. You all heaven’s wrath! how could you bear a part,
Who bore not mine, but with a bleeding heart? 
I was too stubborn, thus to make you sue;
Forgive me—­I am more in fault than you. 
Return to me, and to my love return;
And, both offending, for each other mourn.

  Enter RAPHAEL.

Raph. Of sin to warn thee I before was sent;
For sin, I now pronounce thy punishment: 
Yet that much lighter than thy crimes require;
Th’ All-good does not his creatures’ death desire: 
Justice must punish the rebellious deed;
Yet punish so, as pity shall exceed.

Adam. I neither can dispute his will, nor dare: 
Death will dismiss me from my future care,
And lay me softly in my native dust,
To pay the forfeit of ill-managed trust.

Eve. Why seek you death? consider, ere you speak,
The laws were hard, the power to keep them, weak. 
Did we solicit heaven to mould our clay? 
From darkness to produce us to the day? 
Did we concur to life, or chuse to be? 
Was it our will which formed, or was it He? 
Since ’twas his choice, not ours, which placed us here,
The laws we did not chuse why should we bear?

Adam. Seek not, in vain, our Maker to accuse;
Terms were proposed; power left us to refuse. 
The good we have enjoyed from heaven’s free will,
And shall we murmur to endure the ill? 
Should we a rebel son’s excuse receive,
Because he was begot without his leave? 
Heaven’s right in us is more:  first, formed to serve;
The good, we merit not; the ill, deserve.

Raph. Death is deferred, and penitence has room
To mitigate, if not reverse the doom: 
But, for your crime, the Eternal does ordain
In Eden you no longer shall remain. 
Hence, to the lower world, you are exiled;
This place with crimes shall be no more defiled.