No More Learning

_Adah_. And his lips, too,
How beautifully parted! No; you shall not
Kiss him, at least not now: he will awake soon--
His hour of mid-day rest is nearly over;
But it were pity to disturb him till
'Tis closed.

_Cain_. You have said well; I will contain
My heart till then. He smiles, and sleeps! --sleep on,
And smile, thou little, young inheritor
Of a world scarce less young: sleep on, and smile! 20
Thine are the hours and days when both are cheering
And innocent! _thou_ hast not plucked the fruit--
Thou know'st not thou art naked! Must the time
Come thou shalt be amerced for sins unknown,
Which were not thine nor mine? But now sleep on!
His cheeks are reddening into deeper smiles,
And shining lids are trembling o'er his long
Lashes,[125] dark as the cypress which waves o'er them;
Half open, from beneath them the clear blue
Laughs out, although in slumber. He must dream-- 30
Of what? Of Paradise! --Aye!
dream of it,
My disinherited boy! 'Tis but a dream;
For never more thyself, thy sons, nor fathers,
Shall walk in that forbidden place of joy!

_Adah_. Dear Cain! Nay, do not whisper o'er our son
Such melancholy yearnings o'er the past:
Why wilt thou always mourn for Paradise?
Can we not make another?

_Cain_. Where?

_Adah_. Here, or
Where'er thou wilt: where'er thou art, I feel not
The want of this so much regretted Eden. 40
Have I not thee--our boy--our sire, and brother,
And Zillah--our sweet sister, and our Eve,
To whom we owe so much besides our birth?

_Cain_. Yes--Death, too, is amongst the debts we owe her.

_Adah_. Cain! that proud Spirit, who withdrew thee hence,
Hath saddened thine still deeper.