Before the shadow cloaked the land,
And sun and moon had ceased to glow,
By towering giants made of snow,
Apposed with broomsticks high in hand;
Before the ants had plumbed the Earth,
Apposed with broomsticks high in hand;
Before the ants had plumbed the Earth,
And water ran from sea to root,
And every seed had borne its fruit,
And far were famine, death, and dearth;
Before the fire found its start,
And mind of man was set ablaze,
Pursuing virtue in a maze,
Consumed by follies of the heart;
The clouds concealed a silent storm
To quench the thirsty ancient mold,
Whose rotting choked the land with cold;
An oath to keep the planet warm.
Then snaking down on hidden wire,
The lightning left a little spark
For eager trees bound in the dark
Whose loveless limbs were lit with fire.
As ashes buried last of blight,
The gods hid deep their sacrifice,
The toll of time turned Earth to ice,
And snow-men grew to rule the night.
And what was lost and what was gained?
Nature turned to ice from cold,
to night from dark, to new from old;
The waxing crescent then since waned.
And layer-by-layer the years were painted
Till snow-men rose above the clouds,
Their children forming shrunken crowds,
A maze to bind the unacquainted.
Then through a crack there came a creep,
The ghost of ancient, buried blight,
A famished tendril hunting light
Through broken glass at giants' feet.
And fearing youthful tales of horror,
The giants vowed as one to fight,
With cloud on left and club on right
The rain and steel attacked the floor.
Unfazed, it climbed the giants' spire,
Surpassed the clouds, and bathed in light,
Forcing old gods to reunite
And strike the tendril down with fire.
The shrinking tendril traced a path
of flame from trunk to snowy foot,
A scar composed of ice and soot,
Dissolving snow to watery bath.
Then melting all to equal height,
The sun and moon began to shine,
The clouds and giants saw eye-to-eye,
And at last the land returned to light.
And what was stole and what was asked?
Nature turned from ice to cold,
From night to dark, from new to old;
The waning crescent since then waxed.
