Paradise Lost. John Milton

thy only Son? What fury O Son,

      Possesses thee to bend that mortal Dart

      Against thy Fathers head? and know’st for whom;

      For him who sits above and laughs the while

      At thee ordain’d his drudge, to execute

      What e’re his wrath, which he calls Justice, bids,

      His wrath which one day will destroy ye both.

      She spake, and at her words the hellish Pest

      Forbore, then these to her SATAN return’d:

      So strange thy outcry, and thy words so strange

      Thou interposest, that my sudden hand

      Prevented spares to tell thee yet by deeds

      What it intends; till first I know of thee,

      What thing thou art, thus double-form’d, and why

      In this infernal Vaile first met thou call’st

      Me Father, and that Fantasm call’st my Son?

      I know thee not, nor ever saw till now

      Sight more detestable then him and thee.

      T’ whom thus the Portress of Hell Gate reply’d;

      Hast thou forgot me then, and do I seem

      Now in thine eye so foul, once deemd so fair

      In Heav’n, when at th’ Assembly, and in sight

      Of all the Seraphim with thee combin’d

      In bold conspiracy against Heav’ns King,

      All on a sudden miserable pain

      Surpris’d thee, dim thine eyes, and dizzie swumm

      In darkness, while thy head flames thick and fast

      Threw forth, till on the left side op’ning wide,

      Likest to thee in shape and count’nance bright,

      Then shining heav’nly fair, a Goddess arm’d

      Out of thy head I sprung: amazement seis’d

      All th’ Host of Heav’n; back they recoild affraid

      At first, and call’d me SIN, and for a Sign

      Portentous held me; but familiar grown,

      I pleas’d, and with attractive graces won

      The most averse, thee chiefly, who full oft

      Thy self in me thy perfect image viewing

      Becam’st enamour’d, and such joy thou took’st

      With me in secret, that my womb conceiv’d

      A growing burden. Mean while Warr arose,

      And fields were fought in Heav’n; wherein remaind

      (For what could else) to our Almighty Foe

      Cleer Victory, to our part loss and rout

      Through all the Empyrean: down they fell

      Driv’n headlong from the Pitch of Heaven, down

      Into this Deep, and in the general fall

      I also; at which time this powerful Key

      Into my hand was giv’n, with charge to keep

      These Gates for ever shut, which none can pass

      Without my op’ning. Pensive here I sat

      Alone, but long I sat not, till my womb

      Pregnant by thee, and now excessive grown

      Prodigious motion felt and rueful throes.

      At last this odious offspring whom thou seest

      Thine own begotten, breaking violent way

      Tore through my entrails, that with fear and pain

      Distorted, all my nether shape thus grew

      Transform’d: but he my inbred enemie

      Forth issu’d, brandishing his fatal Dart

      Made to destroy: I fled, and cry’d out DEATH;

      Hell trembl’d at the hideous Name, and sigh’d

      From all her Caves, and back resounded DEATH.

      I fled, but he pursu’d (though more, it seems,

      Inflam’d with lust then rage) and swifter far,

      Me overtook his mother all dismaid,

      And in embraces forcible and foule

      Ingendring with me, of that rape begot

      These yelling Monsters that with ceasless cry

      Surround me, as thou sawst, hourly conceiv’d

      And hourly born, with sorrow infinite

      To me, for when they list into the womb

      That bred them they return, and howle and gnaw

      My Bowels, their repast; then bursting forth

      Afresh with conscious terrours vex me round,

      That rest or intermission none I find.

      Before mine eyes in opposition sits

      Grim DEATH my Son and foe, who sets them on,

      And me his Parent would full soon devour

      For want of other prey, but that he knows

      His end with mine involvd; and knows that I

      Should prove a bitter Morsel, and his bane,

      When ever that shall be; so Fate pronounc’d.

      But thou O Father, I forewarn thee, shun

      His deadly arrow; neither vainly hope

      To be invulnerable in those bright Arms,

      Though temper’d heav’nly, for that mortal dint,

      Save he who reigns above, none can resist.

      She finish’d, and the suttle Fiend his lore

      Soon learnd, now milder, and thus answerd smooth.

      Dear Daughter, since thou claim’st me for thy Sire,

      And my fair Son here showst me, the dear pledge

      Of dalliance had with thee in Heav’n, and joys

      Then sweet, now sad to mention, through dire change

      Befalln us unforeseen, unthought of, know

      I come no enemie, but to set free

      From out this dark and dismal house of pain,

      Both him and thee, and all the heav’nly Host

      Of Spirits that in our just pretenses arm’d

      Fell with us from on high: from them I go

      This uncouth errand sole, and one for all

      My self expose, with lonely steps to tread

      Th’ unfounded deep, & through the void immense

      To search with wandring quest a place foretold

      Should be, and, by concurring signs, ere now

      Created vast and round, a place of bliss

      In the Pourlieues of Heav’n, and therein plac’t

      A race of upstart Creatures, to supply

      Perhaps