Men Are Heaven's Piers

1MEN are Heaven's piers; they evermore

2Unwearying bear the skyey floor;

3Man's theatre they bear with ease,

4Unfrowning cariatides!

5I, for my wife, the sun uphold,

6Or, dozing, strike the seasons cold.

7She, on her side, in fairy-wise

8Deals in diviner mysteries,

9By spells to make the fuel burn

10And keep the parlour warm, to turn

11Water to wine, and stones to bread,

12By her unconquered hero-head.

13A naked Adam, naked Eve,

14Alone the primal bower we weave;

15Sequestered in the seas of life,

16A Crusoe couple, man and wife,

17With all our good, with all our will,

18Our unfrequented isle we fill;

19And victor in day's petty wars,

20Each for the other lights the stars.

21Come then, my Eve, and to and fro

22Let us about our garden go;

23And, grateful-hearted, hand in hand

24Revisit all our tillage land,

25And marvel at our strange estate,

26For hooded ruin at the gate

27Sits watchful, and the angels fear

28To see us tread so boldly here.

29Meanwhile, my Eve, with flower and grass

30Our perishable days we pass;

31Far more the thorn observe - and see

32How our enormous sins go free -

33Nor less admire, beside the rose,

34How far a little virtue goes.