Genesis

A cloud-bank it seemed

of cobalt’s color,

With burning-light

ablaze on its borders:

It swept o’er the field,

swamped the lowlands,

Covered the basin,

overcast the valley,

And surrounded the hill

where the rescuers stood,

Very small before it,

in a smothering darkness.

Like the Limitless Lord

when alone he wrought,

On the peak arisen

from the primeval waters,

To conjure the world,

cosmos from chaos,

As the Ancient One

in olden times,

Our heroes conjured

a Heaven and Earth;

The elder fashioned

an order from chaos:

Seven great Sages

they set in the Heavens,

A plough-cart to pull

the people forward;

The ever-bright hung

in the upper world,

A light on the land

and the low-lying also;

The Polestar they placed,

to point the true way,

Seeming never to move

for unnumbered years;

Set the whirling-flame

on the winds’-way spinning,

A teller of time

every ten days and five,

And Rahu and Ketu

to ride behind him,

Shields for night’s pearl

and shadows on day-disc.

The Bears shone aloft

to brighten dark hours;

Perseus and Pegasus

pierced the pall.

Lyra relit,

to enlighten the welkin;

Aquila rekindled,

to carry on.

Cygnus soared

on silver pinions;

Hercules rose,

his head encrimsoned.

Cancer spread

his crooked claws;

The Brethren ascended,

brave in their bond.

Orion came striding,

his right hand aloft;

The Bull blazed forth,

with his bloody eye rolling.

The Sisterhood

came sweetly singing;

Auriga came

over the hills.

Capella shone

with proven luster;

Sirius ascended,

the sky’s brightest star.

Scorpio shimmered,

and Scutum opposite;

Fox and Goose

still fought in the heavens.

Argo recovered

its ancient splendor;

The Southern Cross

rose over seas once more.

The Nine Luminaries

renewed their might;

The Branches of the Hours

grew bright and strong.

In tight formation came

Twenty-eight Constellations,

By many names known

among men and women.

No work was more wondrous

since the worlds began,

No labour loftier

since life drew breath,

Than the forming of the stars,

forges of the elements;

All matter was made

in their mighty hearts.

III

Our heroes sang on,

summoned Heaven and Earth:

Our friends called aloud

on forms and colors:

They sang sea-wind

and silver crescent,

And green-gold of leaves

in the gathering of the sunset,

Fair-wheel’s field

above flowers uncounted,

Cloud-capped peaks

and creeks clear as crystal,

Soft silvery rains

and the scent of black soil,

Golden blossoms

aglow in the gloaming,

Pink-petalled roses

pearled with dew,

Seed-rich soils

beside silt-bearing currents,

Brimming tarns

bright with lotuses,

Jade of both kinds,

and jewels ablaze;

Scarlet sun’s-blood,

and snow of the wristlet,

Lapis-lazuli,

beloved of the ancients,

Chrysoberyl,

and crimson coral,

Carnelian, pearls,

and nacreous shells:

Seven substances precious,

and soil for the eighth.

Our champions chanted

of the changes in the Earth:

The warriors sang

of the way things are wrought:

Of the making of mountains,

and the mingling of waters,

Of the seven climes,

and sandy shores;

Of the roaring of pines

on rampant peaks,

Of the incessant shower

of silt on the sea-beds;

Of unerring currents

in the upper air,

Whence fickle winds flow

on the face of the ground;

Of desert lands,

desolate-seeming,

The floors of oceans

in far-off times;

Of tropical forests,

truly magnificent,

Layer upon layer

of lives interlinked;

Of the depths beneath

the deep undraining,

Teeming with life,

since time began;

Of boundless plains,

where bison roam,

Young black soil

under yellow grasses;

Of cloud-capped towers,

and canyons deep,

Of red rock shining

in ragged ridges;

Of scintillant streams

where the salmon spawn,

And bird-song brimming

from bough and bole;

Of fiery stars

in frigid skies,

Of polar auroras

in pleats of light;

Of clamorous waterfalls

cresting cliffs,

And silver mist

along sighing waters.

Our heroes sang on,

healed Heaven and Earth;

Our friends recited,

to refuse destruction:

Of the plates underground

of the planet’s crust,

Of the rivers in the oceans,

which rule the weather,

Of the orbits of worlds,

our own and all others,

And the path of the Sun

around the pinwheel of the Galaxy;

Of the first of all dawns

at the forming of the world,

And how life took birth,

and has lived ever since.

The source of all

was a single seed,

A tiny speck

in a timeless void;

With a flash, it fell open

and flooded all space,

And stirred up the waters

of the Sea of Nun.

Emptiness gathered,

and atoms took shape,

Assembled themselves

into stable molecules;

From molecules, matter,

from movement emerged;

Space curved around them,

and spheres coalesced.

Hydrogen fused

in the hearts of the largest,

And the first stars shone,

more fiery than flame.

On the surface of smaller spheres

assembly continued:

The elements divided,

each from the other;

The heaviest sank

to the heart of each orb,

And the lighter arose

into layers above.

Endless rain

brought the oceans to be,

And they scattered and swelled

on the still-soft stone;

The world’s writhing and wrinkling

wrought the long mountains,

Spread the broad plains

and sank the deep valleys,

And made masses of air

in the mantle around them,

And divided the waters

by their warmth and cold.

From the ceaseless swirling

of the soup primordial,

Life took shape,

and lapped up its origin.

Nothing remains

of initial substance;

The substance of life

persists solely in the living.

From the least little thing,

evolution moved forth,

Took countless forms,

recorded in fossils,

From death to death

to this day, ever onward.

Such was the story

the sages recounted,

From the earliest era,

of every known thing.