Caedmon

Here you will find theLong PoemGenesis BK IVof poet Caedmon

Genesis BK IV

噢。169 - 191年)……它看起来还不是耶和华of heaven that Adam should longer be alone as warden and keeper of this new Paradise. Wherefore the King, Almighty God, wrought him an helpmeet; the Author of life made woman and brought her unto the man whom He loved. He took the stuff of Adam's body, and secretly drew forth a rib from his side. He was fast asleep in peaceful slumber; he knew no pain nor any pang; there came no blood from out the wound, but the Lord of angels drew forth from his body a growing rib, and the man was unhurt. Of this God fashioned a lovely maid, breathing into her life and an eternal soul. They were like unto the angels. The bride of Adam was a living spirit. By God's might both were born into the world in the loveliness of youth. They knew no sin nor any evil, but in the hearts of both there burned the love of God. (ll. 192-195) Then the Gracious King, Lord of all human kind, blessed these two, male and female, man and wife, and spake this word: (ll. 196-205) "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the green earth with your seed and increase, sons and daughters. And ye shall have dominion over the salt sea, and over all the world. Enjoy the riches of earth, the fish of the sea, and the fowls of the air. To you is given power over the herds which I have hallowed, and the wild beasts, and over all living things that move upon the earth; all living things, which the depths bring forth throughout the sea, shall be subject unto you." ((LACUNA -- One or more leaves missing)) (ll. 206-234) And our Lord beheld the beauty of His works and the abundance of all fruits of this new creation: Paradise lay pleasant and inviting, filled with goodly store and endless blessings. Bountifully a running stream, a welling spring, watered that pleasant land. Not yet did clouds, dark with wind, carry the rains across the spacious earth; nathless the land lay decked with increase. Out from this new Paradise four pleasant brooks of water flowed. All were divisions of one beauteous stream, sundered by the might of God when He made the earth, and sent into the world. And one of these the mortal dwellers of earth called Pison, which compasseth the land of Havilah about with shining waters. And in that land, as books tell us, the sons of men from far and near find out the best of gold and precious gems. And the second floweth round about the land and borders of the Ethiopians, a spacious kingdom. Its name is Gihon. The third is Tigris, whose abundant stream lieth about the limits of Assyria. Likewise also the fourth, which now through many a folk-land men call Euphrates.... ((LACUNA -- At least one, possibly two, leaves missing))