Into the Clouds, thir tops ascend the Skie:

Soft-ebbing; nor withstood them Rock or Hill, [ 300 ]

Her bosom smelling sweet: and these scarce blown,

Her sacred shades: though God had yet not raind

So high as heavd the tumid Hills, so low

Plant of the field, which ere it was in the Earth [ 335 ]

And Fruit Tree yielding Fruit after her kind;

God made, and every Herb, before it grew

But they, or under ground, or ９9ｌib•ｎeｔcircuit wide

Immediately the Mountains huge appeer [ 285 ]

Forth flourisht thick the clustring Vine, forth crept [ 320 ]

Of Trumpet (for of Armies thou hast heard)

Or wander with delight, and love to haunt [ 330 ]

Troop to thir Standard, so the watrie throng,

Wave rowling after Wave, where way they found,

As drops on dust conglobing from the drie;

Went up and waterd all the ground, and each

Thir 九九藏书branches hung with copious Fruit; or gemmd [ 325 ]

Easie, ere God had bid the ground be drie,

Brought forth the tender Grass, whose verdure clad [ 315 ]

If steep, with torrent rapture, if through Plaine,

For haste; such flight the great command impressd

On the green stemm; God saw that it was good.

Rose as in Dance the stately Trees, and spred

Seemd like to Heavn, a seat where Gods might dwell,

Desert and九*九*藏*书*网 bare, unsightly, unadornd,

Embattelld in her field: and the humble Shrub,

And saw that it was good, and said, Let th Earth

And Bush with frizld hair implicit: last

Capacious bed of Waters: thither they [ 290 ]

Thir blossoms: with high woods the hills were crownd,

Stream, and perpetual draw thir humid traine.

Down sunk a hollow bottom broad and deep,

On the swift flouds: as Armies at the call [ 295 ]

He scarc九九藏书网e had said, when the bare Earth, till then

Opning thir various colours, and made gay

With borders long the Rivers. That Earth now

None was, but from the Earth a dewie Mist

Her Universal Face with pleasant green,

Put forth the verdant Grass, Herb yielding Seed, [ 310 ]

And on the washie Oose deep Channels wore;

With tufts the vallies and each fountain side,

Emergent, and thir broad bare backs upheave

Upon the Earth,九九藏书网 and man to till the ground

Whose Seed is in her self upon the Earth.

The smelling Gourd, up stood the cornie Reed

With Serpent errour wandring, found thir way,

Part rise in crystal Wall, or ridge direct,

All but within those banks, where Rivers now [ 305 ]

Then Herbs of every leaf, that sudden flourd

Hasted with glad precipitance, uprowld

Of congregated Waters he calld Seas:

The dry Land, Earth, and the great receptacle