Back in Genesis when the Godhead
spent his days in chaos going through proofs
comparing this elm leaf to that leaf
trying to make day seven agree with the first verse 

and his introductory paragraph
which says, “Let light... and there was light”
suggests only the bare outlines
of the inquisitions, the reflection on forced lines— 

then the patterns of creation
were revealed, the true germens of form
not recollections of emotion in tranquillity
but the spontaneous overflowing of old terms 

and the spirit over the waters
floated past the face of the deep
and the slipped pen of the Godhead
found both inspiration and so many ways to sleep.