The Hyperion Cantos 4-Book Bundle (150 page)

Thou art not the beginning nor the end/

From Chaos and parental Darkness came

Light/ the first fruits of that intestine broil/

That sullen ferment/ which for wondrous ends

Was ripening in itself
The ripe hour came/

And with it Light/ and Light/ engendering

Upon its own producer/ forthwith touched

The whole enormous matter into Life

Upon that very hour/ our parentage/

The Heavens/ and the Earth/ were manifest

Then thou first born/ and we the giant race/

Found ourselves ruling new and beauteous realms

Now comes the pain of truth/ to whom tis pain/

O folly! for to bear all naked truths/

And to envisage circumstance/ all calm/

That is the top of sovereignty
Mark well!

As Heaven and Earth are fairer, fairer far

Than Chaos and blank Darkness/ though once chiefs/

And as we show beyond that Heaven and Earth

In form and shape compact and beautiful/

In will/ in action free/ companionship/

And thousand other signs of purer life/

So on our heels a fresh perfection treads/

A power more strong in beauty/ born of us

And fated to excel us/ as we pass

In glory that old Darkness
nor are we

Thereby more conquered/ than by us the rule

Of shapeless Chaos
Say/ doth the dull soil

Quarrel with the proud forests it hath fed/

And feedeth still/ more comely than itself>

Can it deny the chiefdom of green groves>

Or shall the tree be envious of the dove

Because it cooeth/ and hath snowy wings

To wander wherewithal and find its joys>

We are such forest trees/ and our fair boughs

Have bred forth/ not pale solitary doves/

But eagles golden-feathered/ who do tower

Above us in their beauty/ and must reign

In right thereof
For tis the eternal law