Poem of the Week

And the first age was Gold.

Without laws, without law's enforcers.

This age understood and obeyed

What had created it.

- "Creation," Ted Hughes

What was, before the world

no one can imagine

and then the Creator created

winds and skies and seas.

Earth, with its fruits and trees,

before the world was old,

blossomed in sweet profusion.

Fish and flesh and fowl

were, magically, manifold.

And the first age was Gold.

And man appeared, and woman

innocent, full of wonder.

Eden, one myth called it,

Paradise, another.

Whatever the name, it was

flawless, an age of glory,

golden, sun-filled, honeyed,

lacking both crime and cunning.

It was a consummate order -

Without laws, without law's enforcers.

Day followed night, the sky

cloudless, the air sweet-scented.

Night followed day, the stars

bright - Orion striding,

Cygnus, the Southern Cross,

the Lesser Water Snake.

All in their proper places

linked to the earth and shining -

a cosmological guide

this age understood and obeyed

Minerals, plants and all

animals and humans

behaved according to

their original design.

Birds in their flight and flowers,

trees multifoliate,

salt in the mine, and water -

each honoured and celebrated

harmonized with and trusted

what had created it.