Classic Poem

First of the crafts is tailoring,
since Adam invented it;
'twas the trade that was plied earliest
and which folk will never quit:
as long as the mothers bring forth
the children wholly nude,
the needle's work will be required
to keep them warmly wrapped.

Adam was placed in the Garden,
'twas not the post he fancied;
he was disinclined to labour,
planting flowers amid the trees;
he would not grasp a shovel
nor would he dig the soil,
neither did he take a mattock—
he would not do a turn.

'Twas Eve that proved provocative
with witless audacity,
when she pulled the lovely apple
from the top of the green branch;
'tis woe she gave it unto him,
he paid dearly for the juice,
in that they both, and all the race
derived from them, should die.

Then Adam saw that his nakedness
and his shame were revealed;
he took needles from the thorn,
and made thread from the bark;
he stitched the leaves of branches
round front and hinder parts;
he declined to be a gardener,
the tailor's craft he loved.
He was the world's first craftsman,
he must not be unsung,
since he never served apprenticeship
but acquired the knack by observation;
lacking thread and sheep's wool,
he made a suit of new clothes;
he was illustrious as a tailor,
but no gardener at all.