The Perfect World,

By Nathaniel Parker Willis


The perfect world, by Adam trod
Was the first temple built by God;
His fiat laid the corner stone,
And heaved its pillars, one by one.

He hung its starry roof on high,
The broad expanse of azure sky;
He spread its pavement, green and bright,
And curtained it with morning light..

The mountains in their places stood,
The sea, the sky; and all was good;
And when its first pure praises rang,
The morning stars together sang.

Lord, 'tis not ours to make the sea,
And earth, and sky, a house for thee;
But in thy sight our offering stands,
A humbler temple, made with hands.