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Home  »  The World’s Best Poetry  »  The Departure from Paradise

Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.

V. Selections from “Paradise Lost”

The Departure from Paradise

John Milton (1608–1674)

From “Paradise Lost,” Book XII.

IN either hand the hastening angel caught

Our lingering parents, and to the eastern gate

Led them direct, and down the cliff as fast

To the subjected plain; then disappeared.

They, looking back, all the eastern side beheld

Of Paradise, so late their happy seat,

Waved over by that naming brand; the gate

With dreadful faces thronged and fiery arms.

Some natural tears they dropt, but wiped them soon;

The world was all before them, where to choose

Their place of rest, and Providence their guide.

They, hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow,

Through Eden took their solitary way.