DESCEND from Heaven, Urania, by that name If rightly thou art call'd, whose voice divine : Nor of the Muses Nine, nor on the top R R In presence of the Almighty Father, pleas'd Lest from this flying steed unrein'd, (as once Standing on earth, not rapt above the pole, Of that wild rout that tore the Thracian bard Say, Goddess, what ensued when Raphael, To those apostates, lest the like befal Charg'd not to touch the interdicted tree, If they transgress, and slight that sole command, Of all tastes else to please their appetite, Though wandering. He with his consorted Eve With admiration and deep muse to hear Of things so high and strange, things to their thought And war so near the peace of God in bliss With such confusion: but the evil soon S S Driven back redounded as a flood on those Great things and full of wonder in our ears, Down from the empyréan to forewarn Us timely of what might else have been our loss, |