What does the speaker mean by ""And ignorance is / A lost paradise"" in lines 20–21?

The line '...and ignorance is/ a lost paradise' means that as she has gained knowledge by reading, she is no more ignorant to knowledge and to her ignorance is a like a lost paradise.

Explanation:

"Blind" is a poem written by Fatima Naoot. The poem speaks about the blindness of the speaker and the surgery which she underwent. The speaker is saying that when she was blind she used to listen to people reading her books.

The speaker in the poem is also trying to speak not only about her physical blindness but blindness in terms of ignorance of knowledge or the things she learned by listening to the books.

The speaker says that she was illiterate in terms of many things and ignorant in terms of spirituality as well. By using the reference of 'Lama' in  her poetry, the speaker is hinting about her spiritual blindness and ignorance of spiritual things.

So, the speaker is refering to this spiritual ignorance a paradise that is lost. That now she is no more ignorant and has gained knowledge.

paine is arguying that they had tried everything before coming to the conclusion that they needed to fight for their freedom.

argument: "every quiet method for peace hath been ineffectual."

claim 1: "our prayers have been rejected with disdain; and only tended to convince us, that nothing flatters vanity, or confirms obstinacy in kings more than repeated petitioning and nothing hath contributed more than that very measure to make the kings of europe absolute."

claim 2: "wherefore, since nothing but blows will do, for god’s sake, let us come to a final separation, and not leave the next generation to be cutting throats, under the violated unmeaning names of parent and child."