“Of fish, that, with their fins and shining scales, “Graze the sea-weed their pasture, and through groves 405 “Of coral stray; or, sporting with quick glance, “Show to the sun their wav'd coats dropt with gold; “ In jointed armour watch: on smooth, the seal 410 “ And bended dolphins play: part huge of bulk, “ Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait, Tempest the ocean: there leviathan, “Stretch'd like a promontory, sleeps or swims, 415 “And seems a moving land; and at his gills “ Draws in, and at his trunk spouts out, a sea. “ Bursting with kindly rapture, forth disclos'd 420 “ Their callow young; but feather'd soon, and fledge, They summ'd their pens; and, soaring the air sublime, “ With clang despis’d the ground, under a cloud “In prospect: there the eagle and the stork “On cliffs and cedar-tops their eyries build : “ In common, rang’d in figure wedge their way, Easing their flight; so steers the prudent crane “ Solac'd the woods, and spread their painted wings 435 “ Till ev'n; nor then the solemn nightingale “ Ceas'd warbling, but all night tun'd her soft lays. 430 songs “ Between her white wings mantling proudly, rows 440 “ Her state with oary feet; yet oft they quit “ The dank, and, rising on stiff pennons, tower “ The silent hours, and the other whose gay train The waters thus “ The Sixth, and of creation last, arose “Let the earth bring forth soul living in her kind, “ The earth obey'd, and straight “ Opening her fertile womb, teem'd at a birth 455 “Innum'rous living creatures, perfect forms, “Limb'd and full grown. Out of the ground up rose, “ Among the trees in pairs they rose, they walk'd: 460 “ 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 calv'd; now half appear'd “ The tawny lion, pawing to get free 465 “ His hinder parts; then springs, as broke from bonds, " 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 470 Bore up his branching head : scarce from his mould “Behemoth, biggest born of earth, upheav'd “His vastness: fleec'd the flocks and bleating rose, “ As plants: ambiguous between sea and land, “ The river-horse, and scaly crocodile. 475 “ At once came forth whatever creeps the ground, “ Insect or worm: those wav'd their limber fans “ With spots of gold and purple, azure and green: 480 “ These, as a line, their long dimension drew, “Streaking the ground with sinuous trace; not all “ Their snaky folds, and added wings. First crept 485 “ The parsimonious emmet, provident “Of future; in small room large heart enclos'd; “Of commonalty. Swarming next, appear'd 490 “ The female bee, that feeds her husband drone Deliciously, and builds her waxen cells “ With honey stor'd. The rest are numberless, “ And thou their natures know'st, and gav'st them names, “ Needless to thee repeated: nor unknown 495 “ The serpent, subtlest beast of all the field, “Of huge extent sometimes, with brazen eyes “ Now heaven in all her glory shone, and rollid 500 “ Her motions as the great first Mover's hand “ First wheel'd their course: earth in her rich attire “ Frequent; and of the Sixth Day yet remain'd505 “ There wanted yet the master-work, the end “ Of all yet done; a creature, who, not prone “ His stature, and upright with front serene Magnanimous, to correspond with heaven: 525 530 “ Directed in devotion, to adore • Of all his works: therefore the Omnipotent "Let us make now man in our image, man 520 ««•In our similitude; and let them rule "Over the fish and fowl of sea and air, “This said, he form'd thee, Adam, thee, O man! Express; and thou becam'st a living soul. “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth; “ Delectable both to behold and taste; “Gave thee: all sorts are here that all th' earth yields, “ Variety without end: but of the tree Which, tasted, works knowledge of good and evil, “ Thou may'st not; in the day thou eat'st, thou diest; 545 “Death is the penalty impos'd: beware, “And govern well thy appetite; lest Sin “Here finish'd he, and all that he had made “ View'd, and, behold, all was entirely good! 550 “ So ev'n 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, 555 “The addition of his empire-how it show'd “In prospect from his throne-how good-how fair, Symphonious of ten thousand harps, that tun'd 560 “ Angelic harmonies: the earth, the air “Resounded,—thou remember'st, for thou heard'st,)- “ While the bright pomp ascended jubilant. 565 “ Open, ye everlasting gates !' they sung, Open, ye heavens! your living doors ; let in “Open, and henceforth oft ; for God will deign 570 « To visit oft the dwellings of just men, Delighted; and with frequent intercourse “The glorious train ascending. He through heaven, 575 “ That open'd wide her blazing portals, led “ To God's eternal house direct the way; “Seen in the galaxy,—that milky way “ And now on earth the Seventh “Ev'ning arose in Eden, for the sun “ Was set, and twilight from the East came on, Forerunning night; when, at the holy mount 585 “Of heaven's high-seated top,—the imperial throne |