free-verse18 lines
Remonstrance.
by Jean IngelowDaughters of Eve! your mother did not well:
She laid the apple in your father's hand,
And we have read, O wonder! what befell, -
The man was not deceived, nor yet could stand:
He chose to lose, for love of her, his throne, -
With her could die, but could not live alone.
Daughters of Eve! he did not fall so low,
Nor fall so far, as that sweet woman fell;
For something better, than as gods to know,
That husband in that home left off to dwell:
For this, till love be reckoned less than lore,
Shall man be first and best for evermore.
Daughters of Eve! it was for your dear sake
The world's first hero died an uncrowned king;
But God's great pity touched the grand mistake,
And made his married love a sacred thing:
For yet his nobler sons, if aught be true,
Find the lost Eden in their love to you.