Explore "On Righteous Indignation" by G.K. Chesterton on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
When Adam went from Paradise / He saw the Sword and ran; / The dreadful shape, the new device, / The pointed end of Paradise, / And saw what Peril is and Price, / And knew he was a man.
When Adam went from Paradise, / He turned him back and cried / For a little flower from Paradise; / There came no flower from Paradise; / The woods were dark in Paradise, / And not a bird replied.
For only comfort or contempt, / For jest or great reward, / Over the walls of Paradise, / The flameless gates of Paradise, / The dumb shut doors of Paradise, / God flung the flaming sword.
It burns the hand that holds it / More than the skull it scores; / It doubles like a snake and stings, / Yet he in whose hand it swings / He is the most masterful of things, / A scorner of the stars.