I the present needs must fear.
When the still-unfashion'd earth
Lay on God's eternal breast,
He ordain'd its hour of birth,
With creative joy possess'd.
Then a heavy sigh arose,
When He spake the sentence:—"Be!"
And the All, with mighty throes,
Burst into reality.
And when thus was born the light,
Darkness near it fear'd to stay,
And the elements with might
Fled on every side away;
Each on some far-distant trace,
Each with visions wild employ,
Numb, in boundless realm of space,