Page:Paradise lost by Milton, John.djvu/238

He named. Thus was the first day even and morn;
Nor passed uncelebrated, nor unsung
By the celestial quires. When orient light
Exhaling first from darkness they beheld.
Birthday of heaven and earth, with joy and shout
The hollow universal orb they filled,
And touched their golden harps, and hymning praised
God and his works; Creator him they sung,
Both when first evening was, and when first morn.
"Again, God said:—'Let there be firmament261
Amid the waters, and let it divide
The waters from the waters!' And God made
The firmament, expanse of liquid, pure,
Transparent, elemental air, diffused
In circuit to the uttermost convex
Of this great round; partition firm and sure,
The waters underneath from those above
Dividing—for as Earth, so he the World
Built on circumfluous waters calm, in wide270
Crystalline ocean, and the loud misrule
Of Chaos far removed, lest fierce extremes
Contiguous might distemper the whole frame—
And Heaven be named the firmament: so even
And morning chorus sung the second day.
"The Earth was formed, but, in the womb as yet
Of waters, embryon immature, involved,
Appeared not; over all the face of Earth