Chapter 10 9
And God created the great Whales, and each
Soul living, each that crept, which plentifully
The waters generated by thir kinds,
And every Bird of wing after his kinde;
And saw that it was good, and blessed them, saying, [ 395 ]
Be fruitful, multiply, and in the Seas
And Lakes and running Streams the waters fill;
And let the Fowle be multiplyd on the Earth.
Forthwith the Sounds and Seas, each Creek and Bay
With Frie innumerable swarme, and Shoales [ 400 ]
Of Fish that with thir Finns and shining Scales
Glide under the green Wave, in Sculles that oft
Bank the mid Sea: part single or with mate
Graze the Sea weed thir pasture, and through Groves
Of Coral stray, or sporting with quick glance [ 405 ]
Show to the Sun thir wavd coats dropt with Gold,
Or in thir Pearlie shells at ease, attend
Moist nutrient, or under Rocks thir food
In jointed Armor watch: on smooth the Seale,
And bent Dolphins play: part huge of bulk [ 410 ]
Wallowing unweildie, enormous in thir Gate
Tempest the Ocean: there Leviathan
Hugest of living Creatures, on the Deep
Stretcht like a Promontorie sleeps or swimmes,
And seems a moving Land, and at his Gilles [ 415 ]
Draws in, and at his Trunck spouts out a Sea.
Mean while the tepid Caves, and Fens and shoares
Thir Brood as numerous hatch, from the Egg that soon
Bursting with kindly rupture forth disclosing
Thir callow young, but feathered soon and fledge [ 420 ]
They summd thir Penns, and soaring th air sublime
With clang despised the ground, under a cloud
In prospect; there the Eagle and the Stork
On Cliffs and Cedar tops thir Eyries build:
Part loosely wing the Region, part more wise [ 425 ]
In common, rangd in figure wedge thir way,
Intelligent of seasons, and set forth
Thir Aierie Caravan high over Seas
Flying, and over Lands with mutual wing
Easing thir flight; so stears the prudent Crane [ 430 ]
Her annual Voiage, born on Windes; the Aire,
Floats, as they pass, fannd with unnumbered plumes:
From Branch to Branch the smaller Birds with song
Solacd the Woods, and spred thir painted wings
Till Evn, nor then the solemn Nightingal [ 435 ]
Ceasd warbling, but all night tund her soft layers:
Others on Silver Lakes and Rivers Bathd
Thir downie Brest; the Swan with Arched neck
Between her white wings mantling proudly, Rowes
Her state with Oarie feet: yet oft they quit [ 440 ]
The Dank, and rising on stiff Pennons, tower
The mid Aerial Skie: Others on ground
Walkd firm; the crested Cock whose clarion sounds
The silent hours, and th other whose gay Traine
Adorns him, coloured, with the Florida hue [ 445 ]
Of Rainbows and Starrie Eyes. The Waters thus
With Fish replenishment, and the Aire, with Fowle,
Evning and Morn solemnizd the Fifth day.