Eternal and all-working God, which wast <br /> Before the world, whose frame by Thee was cast, <br /> And beautified with beamful lamps above, <br /> By thy great wisdom set how they should move <br /> To guide the seasons, equally to all, <br /> Which come and go as they do rise and fall. <br /> <br /> My mighty Maker, O do thou infuse <br /> Such life and spirit into my labouring Muse, <br /> That I may sing (what but from Noah thou hid'st) <br /> The greatest thing that ever yet thou didst <br /> Since the creation; that the world may see <br /> The Muse is heavenly and deriv'd from Thee. <br /> <br /> O let Thy glorious Angel which since kept <br /> That gorgeous Eden, where once Adam slept, <br /> When tempting Eve was taken from his side, <br /> Let him great God not only be my guide, <br /> But with his fiery faucheon still be nie, <br /> To keep affliction far from me, that I <br /> With a free soul thy wondrous works may show, <br /> Then like that deluge shall my numbers flow, <br /> Telling the state wherein the earth then stood, <br /> The giant race, the universal flood. <br /> <br />...<br /><br />Michael Drayton<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/noah-s-flood-excerpts/
