Запретный? Почему? - они гадали.
Он знаний новых им не преподнес.
Но гордецы и виду не подали
И отповедь не приняли всерьез.
Они ушли. И тут же все забыли.
И мир привычный непонятным стал:
Собаки им, как прежде, не служили,
Ручей советов больше не давал.
В чужой земле свободны и одни,
Они ругались, плакали они,
К такому не готовы повороту.
Их жизнь опасней стала во сто крат,
И ангел отрезал пути назад
Законодателю и стихоплету.
Sonnets from China - W.H.Auden
II
They wondered why the fruit had been forbidden:
It taught them nothing new. They hid their pride,
But did not listen much when they were chidden:
They knew exactly what to do outside.
They left. Immediately the memory faded
Of all they known: they could not understand
The dogs now who before had always aided;
The stream was dumb with whom they'd always planned.
They wept and quarrelled: freedom was so wild.
In front maturity as he ascended
Retired like a horizon from the child,
The dangers and the punishments grew greater,
And the way back by angels was defended
Against the poet and the legislator.