Page:Chaos, a vision of eternity.djvu/21

 

PROLOGUE

SCENE I
BIRTH OF THE UNIVERSE

Utter Darkness

CHORUS

Now Chaos comes, who rules the potent realms,
Where Night and Death eternal vigil keep.
From out his bosom all that lives shall spring;
Into his bosom all that dies shall sink.
In yonder depths, long, long before Time was,
The primal elements all dormant lay—
Profoundly resting in pre-natal sleep.
Throughout the formless cavernous abyss,^[1]
The infinite bounds were silent, dark, and still;

(Distant rumbling is heard)

Now hark! a murmur echoes from afar,
A stir of life pervades the stagnant void.
Anon a movement starts within the deep,
And rolling thunder rises from the depths—
The Elements in violent birth awake;^[2]
Lights flash and joyous sounds reverberate.

Partial Illumination
(Disclosing three castles above the clouds. Lower stage still dark)

1. See note on Nebular Hypothesis, p. 17.
2. Referring to the chemical elements (eighty in number) out of which all forms of matter are constituted.