Paradise-Un

One of the early outline drafts of the poem
[Paradise Lost] suggests that Milton was
considering the alternative title "Adam
Unparadized."
                      —Kevin Jackson, Invisible Forms

In the beginning God, unaccompanied,
And unmanned, made light.
Adam as yet unimagined.

Then the world unwound
From heaven. The day unbuttoned
From the night. The sea unearthed

And the earth unfastened
The grass and the trees unhusked
Their seeds. Adam unhastened.

God created He him, Adam unfallen,
Unpinned from the ground.
Unhitched Adam. Adam unbound.

And in order that Eve could uncage,
Adam unribbed, and both undressed
And were unashamed.

But the serpent (more subtle), unheard
From until now, unlocked and unappled
Eve, and Adam unabled.

Then the unthorned got thorns
And the unthistled thistles, the earth
Untoiled until then.

Adam unparadized—a song not
Unsung, of life's uneasying,
And Adam undone.

Copyright © 2005 Catherine Wing All rights reserved
from Enter Invisible
Sarabande Books
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission