Apples
"Burden of rosy apples here I bear;
Apples as sweet as sin, and half as fair:
Draw near, and eat, as Eve ate once, of old —
And gather wisdom ere you gather gold.
Ah, why delay? Look deep into my eyes —
Am I not beautiful? Am I not wise—
Though I too once walked free in Paradise?
Most fair I am, although my eyes are cold:
Draw near, and win the apples that I hold.
The apples half I give and half deny:
Lo, I am Lilith! will ye eat and die?"
"Am I a stranger that ye stand so far —?
My foes that were, my kinsmen now that are —
My foes that were, my lovers that shall be
By grace of kindly blood poured out for ye.
Am I a stranger? yet my fruit's as red
As hers, that tempts the quick to be the dead.
You welcomed her a barren while ago
And me with stoning, even as a foe
You turned away from paths your footsteps know.
Now she hath cast you out, and here ye see
Come back to seek your grace, my fruit and me.
Ye know me now a little, yet God wot,
Indeed I loved ye while ye knew me not.
Lo! here I stand to-day with fruit to give,
Azrael and his apples: eat and live!"