Glide under the green wave, in sculls that oft Bank the mid sea: part single, or with mate, Graze the seaweed their pasture, and through groves Of coral stray; or, sporting with quick glance, 405 Show to the sun their waved coats dropp'd with gold ; Or, in their pearly shells at ease, attend Moist nutriment; or under rocks their food In jointed armour watch: on smooth the seal And bended dolphins play: part huge of bulk Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait, Tempest the ocean: there leviathan, Hugest of living creatures, on the deep Stretch'd like a promontory sleeps or swims, And seems a moving land; and at his gills Draws in, and at his trunk spouts out, a sea. Meanwhile the tepid caves and fens and shores Their brood as numerous hatch, from the egg that soon Bursting with kindly rupture forth disclosed
Their callow young; but feather'd soon and fledge They summ'd their pens; and, soaring the air sublime, With clang despised the ground, under a cloud In prospect; there the eagle and the stork On cliffs and cedar tops their eyries build : Part loosely wing the region, part more wise
In common, ranged in figure, wedge their way, Intelligent of seasons, and set forth
Their aery caravan, high over seas
Flying, and over lands, with mutual wing
Easing their flight; so steers the prudent crane Her annual voyage, borne on winds; the air Floats as they pass, fann'd with unnumber'd plumes: From branch to branch the smaller birds with song Solaced the woods, and spread their painted wings Till even; nor then the solemn nightingale 435 Ceased warbling, but all night tuned her soft lays: Others, on silver lakes and rivers, bathed Their downy breast; the swan with arched neck, Between her white wings mantling proudly, rows
Her state with oary feet; yet oft they quit The dank, and, rising on stiff pennons, tower The mid aerial sky: others on ground Walk'd firm; the crested cock whose clarion sounds The silent hours, and the other whose gay train Adorns him, colour'd with the florid hue. Of rainbows and starry eyes. The waters thus With fish replenish'd, and the air with fowl, Evening and morn solemnized the fifth day.
The sixth, and of creation last, arose
With evening harps and matin; when God said, 450 Let the Earth bring forth soul living in her kind, Cattle, and creeping things, and beast of the Earth, Each in their kind. The Earth obey'd, and straight Opening her fertile womb teem'd at a birth Innumerous living creatures, perfect forms, Limb'd and full grown out of the ground uprose, As from his lair, the wild beast where he wors In forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den; Among the trees in pairs they rose, they walk'd: The cattle in the fields and meadows green :
Those rare and solitary, these in flocks
Pasturing at once, and in broad herds upsprung.
The grassy clods now calved; now half appear'd The tawny lion, pawing to get free
His hinder parts, then springs as broke from bonds, 465 And rampant shakes. his brinded mane; the ounce, The libbard, and the tiger, as the mole
Rising, the crumbled earth above them threw
In hillocks the swift stag from under ground
Bore up his branching head: scarce from his mould 470 Behemoth biggest born of earth upheaved
His vastness: fleeced the flocks and bleating rose, As plants: ambiguous between sea and land
The river-horse, and scaly crocodile.
At once came forth whatever creeps the ground, 475 Insect or worm: those waved their limber fans
For wings, and smallest lineaments exact
In all the liveries deck'd of summer's pride With spots of gold and purple, azure and green: These, as a line, their long dimension drew, Streaking the ground with sinuous trace; not all Minims of nature; some of serpent kind, Wondrous in length and corpulence, involved Their snaky folds, and added wings. First crept The parsimonious emmet, provident
Of future; in small room large heart enclosed; Pattern of just equality perhaps
Hereafter, joined in her popular tribes
Of commonalty: swarming next appear'd The female bee, that feeds her husband drone Deliciously, and builds her waxen cells
With honey stored: the rest are numberless,
And thou their natures know'st, and gavest them names, Needless to thee repeated; nor unknown
The serpent, subtlest beast of all the field,
Of huge extent sometimes, with brazen eyes
And hairy mane terrific, though to thee
Not noxious, but obedient at thy call.
Now Heaven in all her glory shone, and roll'd
Her motions, as the great first Mover's hand
First wheel'd their course: Earth in her rich attire Consummate lovely smiled; air, water, earth, By fowl, fish, beast, was flown, was swum, was walk'd, Frequent; and of the sixth day yet remain'd: There wanted yet the master-work, the end Of all yet done; a creature, who, not prone And brute as other creatures, but endued With sanctity of reason, might erect His stature, and upright with front serene
Govern the rest, self-knowing; and from thence 510 Magnanimous to correspond with Heaven,
But grateful to acknowledge whence his good Descends, thither with heart, and voice, and eyes Directed in devotion, to adore
And worship God Supreme, who made him chief 515
Of all his works: therefore the Omnipotent Eternal Father (for where is not he
Present?) thus to his Son audibly spake :
Let us make now Man in our image, Man In our similitude, and let them rule Over the fish and fowl of sea and air,
Beast of the field, and over all the Earth,
And every creeping thing that creeps the ground. This said, he form'd thee, Adam, thee, O Man,
Dust of the ground, and in thy nostrils breathed 525 The breath of life; in his own image he
Created thee, in the image of God
Express; and thou becamest a living soul.
Male he created thee; but thy consórt
Female, for race; then bless'd mankind, and said, 530 Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth; Subdue it, and throughout dominion hold Over fish of the sea, and fowl of the air,
And every living thing that moves on the Earth. Wherever thus created, for no place
Is yet distinct by name, thence, as thou know'st, He brought thee into this delicious grove,
This garden, planted with the trees of God, Delectable both to behold and taste;
And freely all their pleasant fruit for food
Gave thee; all sorts are here that all the Earth yields
Variety without end; but of the tree,
Which, tasted, works knowledge of good and evil,
Thou mayst not; in the day thou eat'st, thou diest:
Death is the penalty imposed; beware,
And govern well thy appetite; lest Sin
Surprise thee, and her black attendant Death. Here finish'd he, and all that he had made
View'd, and behold all was entirely good;
So even and morn accomplish'd the sixth day; Yet not till the Creator from his work
Desisting, though unwearied, up return'd,
Up to the Heaven of Heavens, his high abode ;
Thence to behold this new created world,
The addition of his empire, how it show'd
In prospect from his throne, how good, how fair, Answering his great idea. Up he rode Follow'd with acclamation, and the sound 1 Symphonious of ten thousand harps, that tuned Angelic harmonies: the earth, the air
Resounded (thou remember'st, for thou heard'st,) The heavens and all the constellations rung, The planets in their station listening stood, While the bright pomp ascended jubilant. Open, ye everlasting gates! they sung, Open, ye Heavens! your living doors; let in The great Creator from his work return'd Magnificent, his six days' work, a World; Open, and henceforth oft; for God will deign To visit oft the dwellings of just men, Delighted; and with frequent intercourse Thither will send his winged messengers On errands of supernal grace. So The glorious train ascending: He through Heaven, That open'd wide her blazing portals, led To God's eternal house direct the way; A broad and ample road, whose dust is gold And pavement stars, as stars to thee appear, Seen in the galaxy, that milky way,
Which nightly, as a circling zone, thou seest
Powder'd with stars. And now on Earth the seventh
Evening arose in Eden, for the sun
Was set, and twilight from the east came on,
Forerunning night; when at the holy mount
Of Heaven's high-seated top, the imperial throne 585 Of Godhead, fix'd for ever firm and sure, The Filial Power arrived, and sat him down With his great Father; for he also went Invisible, yet staid (such privilege
Hath Omnipresence,) and the work ordain'd, Author and End of all things; and, from work
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