To that fair Elf-child other summers came;
But Lilith walked, heart-hungered, filled with shame,
Naught comforted. And in that shadow-land
She sorrowing bore, in after-time, a band
Of elfin babes, that waked dim echoes long
Forgotten there, and ghastly bursts of song.
Then Lilith saddened more, for that she knew
The curse was fallen now. And cried she through
Fast-falling tears, “Oh, me most desolate,
That shall not know in any time the fate
Of happier mothers! Nay, nor cool touch
Of baby hands. Oh, longed-for, loved so much!
Alas, my babes, ere yet hour-old ye fly,
Out-spreading shining wings with jeering cry,
Afar from me. Most hapless I, from whom
The crown of motherhood, yet white with bloom,
Falls blighted! Close in these empty arms fain
Would I clasp my babes! My tender pain
But once could ye not solace? Nay, ’tis vain;
I shall not kiss their lips, nor hear again,
As gladder mothers may, low-rippling, sweet,
The laughter children bring about their feet.
Oh, soulless ones, can ye not wait awhile,
’Till on your loveless lips I wake one smile?”
But merrily out-laughed the phantom crew;
On shining pinions white, swift seaward flew,
Or upward rose, slow-fading in the blue;
Or lured her trembling, green morasses through.
And ’mong the frothy waves they vanished fast;
Or shrieked with glee borne on the wintry blast,
And wilder raised their warlock song.
While fairer grew each day that elfin throng.

To pluck the mangoes brown, fair Lilith sped
One morn. Quick throbbed her heart. On mossy bed
Lay all her babes. With face like morning, shone
One there, and wide her yellow hair out-blown
As ’twere in play. Red-flushed her cheeks, and deep
About her lips the baby smiles. Asleep
Was one, white-gleaming, pure as pearl unseen
In sunless caves, close-shut. And one did lean
Against his fellow, lithe, sun-flushed and brown,
With rings of jetty hair that low adown
His bosom streamed. And one there was, whose dream
O’erflowed with laughter. And one did seem
Half-waking. One, with dimpled arms in sleep
Thrust elbow-deep in moss, that sure did weep
Ere yet he slept, and on his cheek scarce dried
The wilful tears.
Then low, pale Lilith cried
As near she drew, down-bending tender eyes:
“And are ye here, my babes; and will ye rise
If I but break your sleep?” His naked feet
One faintly moved as low she leant; and warm
His slumbrous breath stirred ’gainst her circling arm,
And slow aneath his closed lids slipped a waft
Of wind, that loosed a trickling tear. Its craft
The mother-heart forgot thereat. “At last,
Close to my breast, my babes,” she cried, and fast
Laughing, outstretched her eager hands and strong.
Then lay with empty arms.
The elfin throng
Breasted the pulsing air with mocking song.
“Alas,” she said, “could ye not give one kiss—
One tender clasp of hands! And must I miss
Your throbbing hearts from my cold, barren breast,
Ye soulless ones, that flout my lonely rest?”

There, prostrate, long lay Lilith, and there, late
’Mid dew-fall, Eblis found his stricken mate.
“O Eblis, say o’er me what curse hangs bare,
For now no more,” she said, “this realm seems fair.
Its fruits grow bitter, all its light falls chill.
With thee, my prince, poor Lilith mates but ill—
Earth-born, with angel linked. Alas, is left
No joy to me, of my sweet ones bereft.
Methinks soft baby lips might erewhile drain
From Lilith’s famished heart its wildest pain.
Wherefore, my Eblis, it were wise to seek
Surcease of grief. That Lilith, is so weak
Who wedded thee; and that she sinned, knew not.
Yet, if we part, mayhap may follow naught
Of other ills.”
“Sweet love,” he laughed, “o’er-late
Thou art so timorous. At Eden’s gate
Not so, what time the angel barred her way
My Lilith stood. Shelter within my arms. Oh, say,
Was not our young love sweet? Hath it grown cold?
With me thou sharest endless life; nor old,
Nor shrivelled, shalt thou be. And not one trace
Of earth’s decay (sure doom of thy sad race)
Shall taint thy babes. For lo, I give
Thy soulless ones immortal youth. They live
Without a pang. And yet, methinks the cry
Of Earth adown the ages sounds, when die
Its babes; and mothers bend dumb lips above,
And fold still hands, that answer not their love.
Lilith, doth not indeed my love outweigh
Caresses missed from phantom babes? Astray
From Eden long, here in this fair domain
To bide; and through long cycles fearless reign
Methinks were joy. In summer sheen
Wide spreads thy land. The marge of islets green
The palm-trees skirt. Soft shine the dusk lagoons
And inland mountains. Mirk the jungle’s glooms,
And fair thy fertile plains. Oh, sweet the glow
When we together watch the day, that low
Among the winds lies still. Shut lilies blow
While here we wait. Come, for they fain would show
Their golden hearts. Or, love, with me to float
Were it not sweet, through flowery bays remote,
Past coves and peaks? Or pierce yon ocean’s verge,
And through wild tumbling waves our sails to urge?”
“Yea, sweet is love,” she said, “and sweet to roam
By listless currents lulled; or ’mid the foam
Low dip our feathery oars,” she sighed, “yet so span> In after days the Master, in the glow
Of morning-tide, the mother of the race
Gave for his solacement.
“Oh, fair the face
Young Eve bent o’er his sleep. Ere down the glade
The startled fawn leaps swift, her glance dismayed
Questions the hunter, mute. Such eyes—so brown,
So soft, so winning, shy—that looked adown
When Adam waked. Like vagrant tendrils, tossed
Dark hair about her brows. And quaintly crossed
Her hands upon her breast. Less red the dart
That deepest cleaves the folded rose’s heart,
Than her round cheeks. Not hers the regal air
Of Lilith lost, the white arms, lissom, bare,
The slender throat; the elbows dimpled deep, whereto
Might scarcely reach Eve’s head.
“Yet soft, as through
Some pleasant dream, the summer’s spicy air
Stirs odorous ’mong seaward gardens fair,
In southland hid; so, gently, Eve straightway
To Adam’s life unbidden came, to stay
Forever there. Sure entrance then made she
Into that heart untenanted by thee.
“So, to some olden house, from whose shut doors
One went erewhile, another comes. Its floors
All empty sees. The lowly threshold worn,
The moss-grown roof, the casements left forlorn.
Amid the shadows round about him stands,
Missing the footsteps passed to other lands,
And whispers tenderly, ‘Since here no more
The owner bides, what harm if on the floor
I pass? Good chance it were the clambering vine
About the porch with fingers deft to twine—
To draw the curtains, ope the door. For who
May know how soon these paths untended, through,
He comes again, with weary, way-worn feet,
Who made aforetime, other days so sweet.
Wherefore, I enter now. For whose dear sake
These vacant rooms, white, fragrant, clean, I make.
And when, world-wearied, he returns, we twain
Perchance together bide. Nor part again.’
So Eve found refuge. Tender love, the spell
Whereby she ruled. Peaceful the pair did dwell.
Fast fled the happy years, till softly laid
In her glad arms the babe—a winsome maid.”
He ended there. Between them silence deep
Fell, as they journeyed. And the furthest steep
They crossed, that o’er their shadow-world rose high.
Then saw they level plains, their home, anigh.
And now, seeking her pleasance once again,
They came to their own land. But all in vain
His care. Silent she was, and oft did grieve,
Till Eblis wrathful cried: “Because this Eve
Adam holds dear, art mourning? Still dost yearn
To mate his sordid soul? Or wouldst thou turn
From summer land to Eden walls?
“The man
Belike, ne’er loved thee. So is it young Eve can
His pulses sway. Is she not passing fair?
Her fancies wild, it is her daily care
To bend beneath his ever fickle will.
Red-lipped and soft, she deftly rules him still,
Though he wist not. Yet sweeter Lilith’s frown
Than archest smile she wears. Great Soul! The crown
Thou bearest of fadeless life. For fleeting dreams
In Paradise, beside the winding streams,
Wilt thou resign such boon? Thou art, in sooth,
Of mold too firm for Adam’s love. In truth
A prince—though fallen—consorts best with thee
Say which were wise, with Eden’s lord to be,
Or, shining high, the purer soul, the star
That fadeless burns, and Eblis lights afar?
Were it not grand through endless spaces hurled
With me to drive, above a shrinking world
Our chariot, wide?
“For I foresee when dawn
Dark days upon our foes, and hope is gone.
Wherefore, my Lilith, now, as seems thee good,
Make choice.” Thereat she, turning where she stood,
With kisses hung about his neck, and smiled,
Crying, “Thine, Eblis, thine!” So were they reconciled.