‘LET THERE BE LIGHT.’

‘Let there be light;’ and through the abysmal deep, Where Darkness sat enthroned in silent state, A tremor passed, as though propitious Fate Had roused some charmèd castle from the sleep That sealed all eyes from battlement to keep; For man or friend the warder dare not wait To parley with the Voice outside the gate, For living thing must walk, fly, swim, and creep. ‘Let there be light:’ thus at Creation’s dawn, Ere earth had shape, the glorious mandate ran. Nature obeyed; and o’er the face of night Went forth the rosy streaks of our first morn. Still Nature keeps to one unvarying plan, And God-like souls still cry: ‘Let there be light.’ Albert Francis Cross.