In the beginning, God created Heaven and Earth. Earth was still an empty waste, and darkness hung over the deep; but already, over its waters, stirred the breath of God.

  	Blackness:
Black and dark and constantly blind.
And nothingness lies all around
	Blackness:
Cold and frightening and somehow unkind,
   No sense of touch in either hand,
	Where do you stand?
No sound.
	Blackness:
Uncaring, no sight and no smell,
Falling alone through endless space.
	Blackness:
Wrapped up with no light in your shell,
   Eternally trapped in silent gloom,
	An infinite room,
An empty place.
	Blackness:
Within this lonely well encased,
Heaven and earth lying asleep.
	Blackness:
A grave, a formless empty waste,
   Mindless and senseless, silence infernal,
	Blindness eternal,
And darkness over the deep.
	Blackness:
And falling, continually stumbling,
Lost in a world without sight.
	Blackness:
Then softly, enormously rumbling,
   As God makes His choice.
	The sound of a voice,
“Let there be light!”
	Blackness:
And then, the light fills the world,
Starlight and moonlight and light from the sun.
	Blackness:
And night watches slowly as day is unfurled,
   Tossed to the Fates
	Morning awaits,
Creation begun.
	Blackness:
And then there was light.

					1974

Then God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light.