Viii

"Oh, bliss, that to all other bliss Shall be as sunrise unto night, Or heaven to such a place as this, Or God's own voice, with angels bright, To serpent's hiss!

"I have I betrayed thee, or cast by The pledge in which my soul delighted-- That all this wrong and misery Should be avenged at last, and righted, And so should I?

"Belike, they look on me as dead, Those fiends that found me soft and sweet; But God hath promised me one treat-- To crush that serpent's head!