University of Virginia Library


107

Creation.

“Tous ces vastes pays d'azure et de lumière
Tirés du sein du vide, formés sans matière,
Arrondis sans compas, et tournants sans pivot,
Ont à peine coutés la depense d'un mot.”
Voltaire.

“By night the atheist half believes a God.”

From the dark depth of nature's void arise
Unnumbered worlds, and glitter in the skies.
No bright materials the vast orbs demand,
Nor rule, nor compass, nor a forming hand;
Self-poised their axes, self-sustained their poles,
A universe of wonders o'er us rolls.
They were not, and were called; were called and heard,
And cost, and scarcely cost, the effort of a word.