Genesis 1-3 New International Version (NIV)
The Beginning
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the
surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light
from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was
morning—the first day.
6
And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and
separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.”And there was
evening, and there was morning—the second day.
9
And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God
called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
11
Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it,
according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their
kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was
evening, and there was morning—the third day.
14
And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as
signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.”
And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the
night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the
night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was
morning—the fourth day.
20
And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the
sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves
about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God
blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the
earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
24
And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move
along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild
animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground
according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and
the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish
in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29
Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with
seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures
that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
2 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
2
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his
work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he
had done.
Adam and Eve
4
This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the LORD God made the earth and the
heavens.
5
Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth[b] and no plant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the
earth and there was no one to work the ground, 6 but streams[c] came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of
the ground. 7 Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of
life, and the man became a living being.
8
Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The LORD God
made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the
garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10
A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first
is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic
resin and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.14 The
name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God
commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
18
The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
19
Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to
the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.20 So the
man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was
sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman
from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23
The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
24
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
25
Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
The Fall
3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did
God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit
from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will
be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining
wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of
both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for
themselves.
8
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and
they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10
He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11
And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12
The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13
Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14
So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring[j] and hers;
he will crush[k] your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
16
To the woman he said,
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
17
To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You
must not eat from it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18
It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
20
Adam[l] named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
21
The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the LORD God said, “The man
has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from
the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the
ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of
Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Genesis 1-3 Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
The Beginning of the World
1 God created the sky and the earth. At first, 2 the earth was completely empty. There was nothing on the earth.
Darkness covered the ocean, and God’s Spirit moved over the water.
The First Day—Light
3 Then
God said, “Let there be light!” And light began to shine. 4 He saw the light, and he knew that it was good.
Then he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God named the light “day,” and he named the darkness “night.”
There was evening, and then there was morning. This was the first day.
The Second Day—Sky
6 Then
God said, “Let there be a space to separate the water into two parts!”7 So God made the space and
separated the water. Some of the water was above it, and some of the water was below it. 8 God named that
space “sky.” There was evening, and then there was morning. This was the second day.
The Third Day—Dry Land and Plants
9 Then
God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered together so that the dry land will appear.” And it
happened. 10 God named the dry land “earth,” and he named the water that was gathered together “seas.” And
God saw that this was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the earth grow grass, plants that make grain, and fruit trees. The fruit trees will make
fruit with seeds in it. And each plant will make its own kind of seed. Let these plants grow on the earth.” And it
happened.12 The earth grew grass and plants that made grain. And it grew trees that made fruit with seeds in it.
Every plant made its own kind of seeds. And God saw that this was good.
13 There was evening, and then there was morning. This was the third day.
The Fourth Day—Sun, Moon, and Stars
14 Then
God said, “Let there be lights in the sky. These lights will separate the days from the nights. They will
be used for signs to show when special meetings begin and to show the days and years. 15 They will be in the
sky to shine light on the earth.” And it happened.
16 So God made the two large lights. He made the larger light to rule during the day and the smaller light to rule
during the night. He also made the stars.17 God put these lights in the sky to shine on the earth. 18 He put them in
the sky to rule over the day and over the night. They separated the light from the darkness. And God saw that
this was good.
19 There was evening, and then there was morning. This was the fourth day.
The Fifth Day—Fish and Birds
20 Then
God said, “Let the water be filled with many living things, and let there be birds to fly in the air over the
earth.” 21 So God created the large sea animals. He created all the many living things in the sea and every kind
of bird that flies in the air. And God saw that this was good.
22 God blessed all the living things in the sea and told them to have many babies and fill the seas. And he
blessed the birds on land and told them to have many more babies.
23 There was evening, and then there was morning. This was the fifth day.
The Sixth Day—Land Animals and People
24 Then
God said, “Let the earth produce many kinds of living things. Let there be many different kinds of
animals. Let there be large animals and small crawling animals of every kind. And let all these animals produce
more animals.” And all these things happened.
25 So God made every kind of animal. He made the wild animals, the tame animals, and all the small crawling
things. And God saw that this was good.
26 Then God said, “Now let’s make humans who will be like us. They will rule over all the fish in the sea and the
birds in the air. They will rule over all the large animals and all the little things that crawl on the earth.”
27 So God created humans in his own image. He created them to be like himself. He created them male and
female. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Have many children. Fill the earth and take control of it. Rule
over the fish in the sea and the birds in the air. Rule over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
29 God said, “I am giving you all the grain bearing plants and all the fruit trees. These trees make fruit with
seeds in it. This grain and fruit will be your food.30 And I am giving all the green plants to the animals. These
green plants will be their food. Every animal on earth, every bird in the air, and all the little things that crawl on
the earth will eat that food.” And all these things happened.
31 God looked at everything he had made. And he saw that everything was very good.
There was evening, and then there was morning. This was the sixth day.
The Seventh Day—Rest
2 So the earth, the sky, and everything in them were finished. 2 God finished the work he was doing, so on the
seventh day he rested from his work. 3 God blessed the seventh day and made it a holy day. He made it special
because on that day he rested from all the work he did while creating the world.
The First Man and the Garden of Eden
4 This
is the story about the creation of the sky and the earth. This is what happened when the LORD God made
the earth and the sky. 5 This was before there were plants on the earth. Nothing was growing in the fields
because the LORD God had not yet made it rain on the earth, and there was no one to care for the plants.
6 So water came up from the earth and spread over the ground. 7 Then the LORD God took dust from the ground
and made a man. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nose, and the man became a living thing. 8 Then
the LORD God planted a garden in the East, in a place named Eden. He put the man he made in that
garden. 9 Then the LORD God caused all the beautiful trees that were good for food to grow in the garden. In the
middle of the garden, he put the tree of life and the tree that gives knowledge about good and evil.
10 A river flowed from Eden and watered the garden. The river then separated and became four smaller
rivers. 11 The name of the first river was Pishon. This river flowed around the entire country of
Havilah. 12 (There is gold in that country, and that gold is pure. A kind of expensive perfume and onyx are also
found there.) 13 The name of the second river was Gihon. This river flowed around the whole land of
Cush. 14 The name of the third river was Tigris. This river flowed east of Assyria. The fourth river was the
Euphrates.
15 The LORD God put the man in the Garden of Eden to work the soil and take care of the
garden. 16 The LORD God gave him this command: “You may eat from any tree in the garden. 17 But you must
not eat from the tree that gives knowledge about good and evil. If you eat fruit from that tree, on that day you
will certainly die!”
A Companion for Adam
the LORD God said, “I see that it is not good for the man to be alone. I will make the companion he
needs, one just right for him.”
19 The LORD God used dust from the ground and made every animal in the fields and every bird in the air. He
brought all these animals to the man, and the man gave them all a name. 20 The man gave names to all the tame
animals, to all the birds in the air, and to all the wild animals. He saw many animals and birds, but he could not
find a companion that was right for him. 21 So the LORDGod caused the man to sleep very deeply. While he was
18 Then
asleep, God took one of the ribs from the man’s body. Then he closed the man’s skin where the rib had
been. 22 The LORD God used the rib from the man to make a woman. Then he brought the woman to the
man. 23 And the man said,
“Finally! One like me,
with bones from my bones
and a body from my body.
She was taken out of a man,
so I will call her ‘woman.’”
24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife. In this way two people become one.
25 The man and his wife were naked, but they were not ashamed.
The Beginning of Sin
3 The snake was the most clever of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. The snake spoke to the
woman and said, “Woman, did God really tell you that you must not eat from any tree in the garden?”
2 The woman answered the snake, “No, we can eat fruit from the trees in the garden. 3 But there is one tree we
must not eat from. God told us, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. You
must not even touch that tree, or you will die.’”
4 But the snake said to the woman, “You will not die. 5 God knows that if you eat the fruit from that tree you
will learn about good and evil, and then you will be like God!”
6 The woman could see that the tree was beautiful and the fruit looked so good to eat. She also liked the idea
that it would make her wise. So she took some of the fruit from the tree and ate it. Her husband was there with
her, so she gave him some of the fruit, and he ate it.
7 Then it was as if their eyes opened, and they saw things differently. They saw that they were naked. So they
got some fig leaves, sewed them together, and wore them for clothes.
8 During the cool part of the day, the LORD God was walking in the garden. The man and the woman heard him,
and they hid among the trees in the garden.9 The LORD God called to the man and said, “Where are you?”
10 The man said, “I heard you walking in the garden, and I was afraid. I was naked, so I hid.”
11 God said to the man, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat fruit from that special tree? I told you
not to eat from that tree!”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me gave me fruit from that tree. So I ate it.”
13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What have you done?”
She said, “The snake tricked me, so I ate the fruit.”
14 So the LORD God said to the snake,
“You did this very bad thing,
so bad things will happen to you.
It will be worse for you
than for any other animal.
You must crawl on your belly
and eat dust all the days of your life.
15 I will make you and the woman enemies to each other.
Your children and her children will be enemies.
You will bite her child’s foot,
but he will crush your head.”
16 Then God said to the woman,
“I will cause you to have much trouble
when you are pregnant.
And when you give birth to children,
you will have much pain.
You will want your husband very much,
but he will rule over you.”
17 Then God said to the man,
“I commanded you not to eat from that tree.
But you listened to your wife and ate from it.
So I will curse the ground because of you.
You will have to work hard all your life for the food the ground produces.
18 The ground will grow thorns and weeds for you.
And you will have to eat the plants that grow wild in the fields.
19 You will work hard for your food,
until your face is covered with sweat.
You will work hard until the day you die,
and then you will become dust again.
I used dust to make you,
and when you die, you will become dust again.”
20 Adam named his wife Eve. He gave her this name because Eve would be the mother of everyone who ever
lived.
21 The LORD God used animal skins and made some clothes for the man and his wife. Then he put the clothes on
them.
22 The LORD God said, “Look, the man has become like us—he knows about good and evil. And now the man
might take the fruit from the tree of life. If the man eats that fruit, he will live forever.”
23 So the LORD God forced the man out of the Garden of Eden to work the ground he was made from. 24 God
forced the man to leave the garden. Then he put Cherub angels and a sword of fire at the entrance to the garden
to protect it. The sword flashed around and around, guarding the way to the tree of life.
from Paradise Lost, Book VII
John Milton
Heaven opened wide
Her ever-during gates, harmonious sound
On golden hinges moving, to let forth
The King of Glory in his powerful word
And spirit coming to create new worlds.
On heavenly ground they stood, and from the shore
They viewed the vast immeasurable abyss
Outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild,
Up from the bottom turned by furious winds
And surging waves, as mountains to assault
Heaven’s height, and with the center mix the pole.
Silence, ye troubled waves, and thou Deep,
peace…
Then stayed the fervid wheels, and in is hand
He took the golden compasses, prepared
In God’s eternal store, to circumscribe
This universe, and all created things:
One foot he centered, and the other turned
Round through the vast profundity obscure,
And said, Thus far extend, thus far thy bounds,
This be they just circumference,
O World.
Thus God the Heaven created, thus the Earth,
Matter unformed and void: Darkness profound
Covered the abyss: but on the watery calm
His brooding wings the spirit of God outspread,
Throughout the fluid mass, but downward purged
The black tartareous cold infernal dregs
Adverse to life; then founded, then conglobed
Like things to like, the rest to several place
Disparted, and between spun out air,
And Earth self-balanced on her center hung.
Eve
Christina Rossetti
While I sit at the door,
Sick to gaze within,
Mine eye weepeth sore
For sorrow and sin:
As a tree my sin stands
To darken all lands;
Death is the fruit it bore.
"How have Eden bowers grown
Without Adam to bend them!
How have Eden flowers blown,
Squandering their sweet breath,
Without me to tend them!
The Tree of Life was ours,
Tree twelvefold-fruited,
Most lofty tree that flowers,
Most deeply rooted:
I chose the Tree of Death.
"Hadst thou but said me nay,
Adam, my brother,
I might have pined away;
I, but none other:
God might have let thee stay
Safe in our garden
By putting me away
Beyond all pardon.
"I, Eve, sad mother
Of all who must live,
I, not another,
Plucked bitterest fruit to give
My friend, husband, lover.
O wanton eyes run over!
Who but I should grieve? Cain hath slain his brother:
Of all who must die mother,
Miserable Eve!"
Thus she sat weeping,
Thus Eve, our mother,
Where one lay sleeping
Slain by his brother.
Greatest and least
Each piteous beast
To hear her voice
Forgot his joys
And set aside his feast.
The mouse paused in his walk
And dropped his wheaten stalk;
Grave cattle wagged their heads
In rumination;
The eagle gave a cry
From his cloud station;
Larks on thyme beds
Forbore to mount or sing;
Bees drooped upon the wing;
The raven perched on high
Forgot his ration;
The conies in their rock,
A feeble nation,
Quaked sympathetical;
The mocking-bird left off to mock;
Huge camels knelt as if
In deprecation;
The kind hart's tears were falling;
Chattered the wistful stork;
Dove-voices with a dying fall
Cooed desolation,
Answering grief by grief.
Only the serpent in the dust,
Wriggling and crawling,
Grinned an evil grin, and thrust
His tongue out with its fork.
The Creation
James Weldon Johnson
And God stepped out on space,
And He looked around and said:
I’m lonely—
I’ll make me a world.
And as far as the eye of God could see
Darkness covered everything,
Blacker than a hundred midnights
Down in a cypress swamp.
Then God smiled,
And the light broke,
And the darkness rolled up on one side,
And the light stood shining on the other,
And God said: That’s good!
Then God reached out and took the light in His hands,
And God rolled the light around in his hands
Until He made the sun;
And He set that sun a-blazing in the heavens.
And the light that was left from making the sun
God gathered it up in a shingin ball
And flung it against the darkness,
Spangling the night with the moon and stars.
Then down between
The darkness and the light
He hurled the world’
And God said: That’s good!
Then God himself stepped down—
And the sun was on His right hand,
And the moon was on His left;
The stars were clustered about His head,
And the earth was under His feet.
And God walked, and where He trod
His footsteps hollowed the valleys out
And bulged the mountains up.
Then He stopped and looked and saw
That the earth was hot and barren.
So God stepped over to the edge of the world
And He spat out the seven seas—
He batted His eyes, and the lightnings flashed—
He clapped His hands, and the thunders rolled—
And the waters above the earth came down,
The cooling waters came down.
Then the grass sprouted,
And the little red flowers blossomed,
The pine tree pointed his finger to the sky,
And the oak spread out his arms,
The lakes cuddled down in the hollows of the ground,
The rivers ran down to the sea;
And God smiled again,
And the rainbow appeared,
And curled itself around His shoulder.
Then God raised His arm and He waved His hand
Over the sea and over the land,
And He said: Bring forth! Bring forth!
And quicker than God could drop His hand,
Fishes and fowls
And beasts and birds
Swam the rivers and the seas,
Roamed the forests and the woods,
And split the air with their wings.
And God said: That’s good!
Then God walked around,
And God looked around
On all that He had made.
He looked at His sun,
And He looked at His moon,
And He looked at His little stars;
He looked on His world
With all its living things,
And God said: I’m lonely still.
Then God sat down—
On the side of a hill where He could think;
By a deep, wide river He sat down;
With His head in His hands,
God thought and thought,
Till He thought: I’ll make me a man!
Up from the bed of the river
God scooped the clay;
And by the bank of the river
He kneeled Him down;
And there the great God Almighty
Who lit the sun and fixed it in the sky,
Who flung the stars to the most far corner of the night,
Who rounded the earth in the middle of His hand;
This Great God,
Like a mammy bending over her baby,
Kneeled down in the dust
Toiling over a lump of clay
‘Till He shaped it in His own image;
Then into it He blew the breath of life,
And man became a living soul.
Amen. Amen.
Eve
Ralph Hodgson
Eve, with her basket, was
Deep in the bells and grass,
Wading in bells and grass
Up to her knees,
Picking a dish of sweet
Berries and plums to eat,
Down in the bells and grass
Under the trees.
Mute as a mouse in a
Corner the cobra lay,
Curled round a bough of the
Cinnamon tall….
Now to get even and
Humble proud heaven and—
Now was the moment or
Never at all.
“Eva!” Each syllable
Light as a flower fell,
“Eva!” he whispered the
Wondering maid,
Soft as a bubble sung
Out of a linnet’s lung,
Soft and most silverly
“Eva!” he said.
Picture that orchard sprite,
Eve, with her body white,
Supple and smooth to her
Slim finger tips,
Wondering, listening,
Listening, wondering,
Eve with a berry
Half-way to her lips.
Oh had our simple Eve
Seen through the make-believe!
Had she but known the
Pretender he was!
Out of the boughs he came,
Whispering still her name,
Tumbling in twenty rings
Into the grass.
Here was the strangest pair
In the world anywhere,
Eve in the bells and grass
Kneeling, and he
Telling the story low. . . .
Singing birds saw them go
Down the dark path to
The Blasphemous Tree.
O what a clatter when
Titmouse and Jenny Wren
Saw him successful and
Taking his leave!
How the birds rated him,
How they all hated him!
How they all pitied
Poor motherless Eve.
Picture her crying
Outside in the lane,
Eve, with no dish of sweet
Berries and plums to eat,
Haunting the gate of the
Orchard in vain. . . .
Picture the lewd delight
Under the hill to-night 'Eva!' the toast goes round,
'Eva!' again.
They Wondered Why the Fruit Had Been
Forbidden
W.H. Auden
They wondered why the fruit had been forbidden:
It taught them nothing new. They hid their pride,
But did not listen much when they were chidden:
They knew exactly what to do outside.
They left. Immediately the memory faded
Of all they known: they could not understand
The dogs now who before had always aided;
The stream was dumb with whom they'd always
planned.
They wept and quarrelled: freedom was so wild.
In front maturity as he ascended
Retired like a horizon from the child,
The dangers and the punishments grew greater,
And the way back by angels was defended
Against the poet and the legislator.