Poems (Hoffman)/The Creation
For works with similar titles, see The Creation.
THE CREATION
From the blackness and darkness of chaosJehovah said: "Let there be light."And the first sunny morn knew its dawningAnd the evening stars welcomed the night.
Through vistas of sunlight and shadowsThe golden shafts melted in space,While the new world traversed her bright pathwayWith the smile of God fresh on her face.
She moved in her beauty and grandeurLeaving chaos and darkness behind,A world that had first had its beingIn the wealth of the Infinite mind.
The waves caught the tint of the cloud-landsAnd shouted aloud in their gleeTill the Creator silenced their voicesAnd shut up the gates of the sea.
"Hitherto shalt thou come, but no furtherAnd here shalt thy proud waves be stayed."The sea heard her Maker's commandmentAnd the fierce briny ocean obeyed.
The vales smiled with verdure and blossoms,The proud rocks rose, silent and gray;But whose were those magical fingersThat fashioned each delicate spray?
And who was the marvelous sculptorWhose chisel, unheard and unseen,Carved out the great rocks and deep basinsFor the cool brooks that fretted between?
Did the angels glean fragments of sunlightAnd tints from the blue of the skies,Deep shades from the roseate dawningStarry halos and rich sunset dyes
To wreathe in fantastical splendorAround the first beautiful morn,And cut into rubies and diamondsThe bride of the heavens, to adorn?
The power that subdued the fierce oceanCreated each flower in the dell,The brooks and the bird's brilliant plumageAnd the crags and vast mountains as well;
And placed in the midst of these treasures,In the Eden of beauty and mirth,Man, made in His own divine imageAnd formed from the dust of the earth.
Oh! fair was the first bridal morningThat God in His wisdom ordained;But alas! the lost charms of its promiseHumanity never regained.
Oh! the matchless perfection of Eden,The center of beauty and love,Where the Creator blessed the first unionRecorded by angels above.
And down through the sin-tarnished agesComes that record, so stainless and true,Of the pure and unsullied completenessThat the world in its innocence knew,
Ere man, by his direful fall, made itA prey to destruction and death,When the glory of God was upon itAnd Peace, ladened each spicy breath.
When sparkling with fresh dewy garlandsShe traversed her orbit of light,And nature's electrical voicesRejoiced at the wonderful sight.
How the glad morning-stars sang togetherWhile the moon in the blue zenith hung,And the sons of God shouted for joyIn the days when the green earth was young.
And their happy songs glanced on the watersAnd echoed from mountain to glen,Till a few stray notes borne on the agesFloated down to the children of men.