Creation

I.    Introductory
The things of old created, were not made
     For Nature’s end – or Man’s abiding goal;
     They are but tide marks on the sea of Soul
Deep on the Will of the eternal laid
Whereon in living characters arrayed
     Are records of the wave-like thoughts that roll
     Their crested tide along the formless[?] Whole;
The unseen Deep by visible light portrayed;
In them we read a far diviner lore
     Than speaks their language to the outward Sense,
Of a creation which forevermore
     Goes on, the life-breath of Omnipotence
Mutation teaching of the Immutable,
Nature’s recorded tale of Man the Miracle!

II.    Genesis Chap. I. 1.2.
In the Beginning ere the man-soul was
     God sent his Word into the veil’d Abyss
     And on that Being was begotten this.
Formless and void the Spirit by no laws
Divinely stirred, long silent; o its deep
     Did ancient Darkness awful Sabbath keep.
Ere Thought leapt wave-like from the great First Cause
     Whose Spirit moved upon its surgeless sleep:
Dreams, Passions, Hopes and Aspirations blent
     Chaotic – for as yet Light was not, and the fire
Of Love within its primal shrine was pet.
     Life scarcely budded to its first Desire
Lay open-like[??] waiting for the Day to dawn
Wen God should rise and shine upon the Soul’s first mornn

III.    Verses 3, 4, 5
The Filial Word Creates uncreate
     That since incarnate dwelt with mortals spoke,
     “Let there be Light;” and sudden glory broke
Full on the Soul, with beams of arrowy fate
Piercing old Darkness where in gloom he sate
     The spirit rose and flung aside the yoke
     Of his black bondage, and with lightning stroke
Clave down to Terrors of its embrion state.
     Then God divided darkness from the Light
Making sweet change of glad and solemn mood
     Earth’s dim ??fulness he named the night
Heaven’s heightness day — and lo ?? very good.
     Thus grew the Man yet lit by dubious ray
Ad grief and gladness marked the soul’s first day.

IV.    v. 6, 7, 8
Then God stretched out the blue arch of Repose
     Waters from waters, in the Soul dividing
     The gulf-deep Passions – ere long to be tiding
To serene Hope with giant-swell – from those
That soft in dewy Aspirations rose
     Desires, that back in liquid blessings gliding
     Freshen all blooming kindnesses. Now riding
Aloft in heaven as some high maiden goes
     ?? white hope commands that silent Blue
Same when she merges into Trust’s full blaze;
But then auburn[??] their promise melted through
     The all-broad Soul in floods of mellow hews[??]
Primeval Prophets of diviner Light
Wen Sun and Moon and stars should reign o’er Day and Night.

V.      v.9.10.11.12.13.
Then spake the Voice of the Omnipotent
     “Let dry Land be” – and sudden from the dust
     Of weltering Passions, rose sublime and fresh
Enduring Purpose like a continent
Based on rock-strata of the God’s-Will; rent
     Never by waves, its giant cliffs that lash—
Set herb and grass above the earth appear,”
     And blooming Kindness, made warm by Love
With verdant joy sprung, gladdening the young sphere
     While dewlike Askings answered from above
Showered down in blessings, ripening the full ear
     To fruits of Bliss on every corny spear
The advancing Soul, its three-days progress done,
Bless’d as it might the Power in whom its Life begun.

VI.    v. 14.15.16.17.18.19.
Again the Soul that wondrous fiat hears
     And the blent beams of Trust and aimless Hope
     That formless streamed ere all the azure cope
Rushed to their centers, fashioned into spheres
High potentates of the Immortal Years.
     There sun-like Trust bid Morning’s splendors ope
     Here Hope’s Moon beams, and all starry hoop[??]
Of verities, pierced Night with glittering spears
     Set in the Heavens of Thought, with regal march
     They wheel forever – this majestic sound[??]
Leading the Ides through Beings sky-brand arch
     And ?? darkness with ?? ??
The ?? day’s labors day and night divide
Man’s sensuous && and sway even sea-deep ?? ?? ??

VII.    v. 20.21.22.23
And God said let the Depths of Sea and Air
     Bring forth their Life and lo great Phantasies
     Wetter cold far-diving deep Philosophies
From thoughts’ profound and Passions’ coral lair
Immense – multitudinous sprung there
     All bright-planned Fairies spread their wings to rise
     Fresh-pinioned Andors clave the nether skies
And sound and song and glee rose everywhere.
Lack nestling jay chirped from its tiny grot
     White-winged Affections sought their sweet Dove-cote
The Raven’s cry and Owls long sob marred not
     The gayer tones they joined, from fields remote;
The Fifth Day saw the fast advancing Land
With a more earnest Life along its glad way roll.

VIII.    v. 24.25.26.27.
Another pulse of the Great Heart whose heat
     Is the creative fiat, and once more
     Newness of Life yet deeper than before
Out of man’s God-will springeth,—Courage meet – 
With Lion-Heart, Patience with Tortoise feet
     Ox-like Endurance – Fiery-breathed Disdain.
     ??-?? high-??king with exulting mane
And all proud Virtues more and more complete
Then over all and of all, their combined
     Perspectives yet perfected – rose supreme
     And God-like Manhood, wherein dwelt enshrined
The Infinite I Am, whose glorious gleam
Woke te Memnonian Harp-strings of the sky
While all the sons of God chanted for joy on high!

IX.    Chap. 2 verses 2.3.
Then came the deep Rest of Eternity
     Hushing the infinite Soul with infinite Love;
     And serene Worship like a Mother-dove
Over all Life and Sense stretched gloriously
Her pure white wings majestic as the sky
     All things were holy and divine Thoughts, ran
     Like native pulses through the heard of man
For God kept Sabbath in Humanity!
Round their fixed center deep in heaven immersed
     Revolved the star-like verities of Life
Jarless and beaming, and no meteor burst
     Startled the heavens with gleams of sensate strife,
But boundless Peace to boundless Action wed
The eternal seventh-Day blest and hallow’d