From Paradise Lost 

– Book-I 

(First 26 Lines)

      -John Milton

OF Mans
First Disobedience, and the Fruit

Of that
Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast

Brought
Death into the World, and all our woe,

With
loss of Eden, till one greater Man

Restore
us, and regain the blissful Seat,

Sing Heav’nly
Muse, that on the secret top

Of Oreb,
or of Sinai, didst inspire

That
Shepherd, who first taught the chosen Seed,

In the
Beginning how the Heav’ns and Earth

Rose out
of Chaos: or if Sion Hill

Delight
thee more, and Siloa’s brook that flow’d

Fast by
the Oracle of God; I thence

Invoke
thy aid to my adventrous Song,

That
with no middle flight intends to soar

Above
th’ Aonian Mount, while it pursues

Things
unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime.

And
chiefly Thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer

Before
all Temples th’ upright heart and pure,

Instruct
me, for Thou know’st; Thou from the first

Wast
present, and with mighty wings outspread

Dove-like
satst brooding on the vast Abyss

And
mad’st it pregnant: What in me is dark

Illumin,
what is low raise and support;

That to
the highth of this great Argument

I may
assert Eternal Providence,

And
justifie the wayes of God to men.