I've long had a fascination with versifying the Bible. My first attempt involved summarising a Bible chapter per stanza. It does not bear repeating, and anyway I've thrown it out. My second attempt involved Ecclesiastes, based on the NIV:
10 I gave myself all that my eyes could desire;
I granted my heart every pleasure.
In all of my toil my heart took delight,
And this was my labor's whole treasure.
11 Yet when I saw what I had worked to achieve,
And all that my two hands had done,
Nothing had meaning, it all chased the breeze:
Nothing was gained 'neath the sun.
Then I got stuck; I wrote two lines more, couldn't rhyme them, went off and did something else. When I rediscovered them on my hard drive, I thought, "That's cool. But really I should start at the very beginning (a very good place to start)...."
First I needed to decide on the meter and rhyme scheme. I thought it'd be fun to be able to sing it, but I'm hopeless at composing music. Clearly it was necessary to find a pre-existing, simple, well-known tune -- a tune, above all, that would not drive me crazy once it was stuck in my head as an earworm.
I chose the thematically appropriate Morning has broken. If you think this could form an earworm to drive you crazy, you'd better leave now. If not, remember to sing it at a decent speed: this is a happy story, and besides, there are a lot of verses ahead.
1 In the beginning, God made the heavens and earth,
2 Which was then spinning formless and bare.
Darkness was over the face of the deep, and
God's Spirit hovered o'er waters there.
3 God said, "Be light," and there was light.
4 Good was the light, and separate from dark.
5 So did he name them: one "day", one "night".
Eve and morn came then as all days' start.
6 God said, "Let there be space 'tween the waters."
7 So was the air beneath and upon,
Keeping them parted. God called this "sky".
8 Day two was charted evening and morn.
9 God said, "All water under the sky should collect,
And thus be brought a stretch of dry sand."
Done was the notion. 10 Ground was called "earth",
Waters called "ocean". And it was grand.
11 Then God said, "Let the land produce seed-bearing plants,
Trees that deliver seed-bearing fruit.
And it was so. 12 The land brought forth plants,
Each with its stone as each one did suit.
God saw this forming and saw that it was all good.
13 Evening and morning passed a third time.
14 God said, "Let there be lights in the sky that
Mark seasons yearly, serving as signs.
"Let them divide the days from the nights,
15 And there provide the light for the earth."
Thus did it pass. 16God made two great lights.
Also the stars were given birth.
Greater light was to govern the daytime,
Lesser light rose to rule over night.
17 God did ordain them to shine from the sky, 18 to
Night and day reign, and keep dark from light.
And this was pleasing. 19 And there was morning
After the evening of the fourth day.
20 God said, "Let water teem with live creatures,
Birds fly like thought across the sky's way."
21 So God established all the great beasts of the sea
And water lavished with all living things
Fitting their kinds -- God saw 'twas good -- and
Each to its kind made all birds with wings.
22 God gave this blessing, "Now become fruitful,
In number increasing, fill up the seas,
And let the birds increase on the earth."
23 And with these words the fifth day did cease.
24 And God said, "Let the land produce creatures that live:
Livestock to tether, creatures that move
Over the scree, and animals wild,
Each of its breed." And thus it did prove.
25 God made the wild animals unto their kinds,
And livestock mild unto their sorts,
And all the creatures that move over ground,
Unto their features. And it was good.
26 Then God said, "Let's make man in our image,
Who our likeness take to rule o'er the earth,
Fish of the sea, and birds of the air,
Livestock and creatures that move on the turf."
27 So God did make this man in his image
In God's own likeness created he them;
He made them female, male he made them,
Male and female created he them.
28 God gave this blessing, "Now become fruitful,
In numbers increasing, fill up the earth.
Rule over all: the fish and the birds,
All animals that move on the turf."
29 God said, "I give you all of earth's seed-bearing plants,
And all trees with fruit shall be your food.
30 And to earth's beasts and birds of the air,
And all the creatures that on the ground move -
Everything that has the breath of life in it -
Plants are your rations." And so it proved.
31 Morn after eve made day number six, and
God saw what he'd made was very good.
Now chapter two: 1 The heavens and earth were
All made anew in their vast array.
2 And by the seventh day God had finished
Earth and the heavens, and all he'd made;
So on this one day he rested from all of his work.
3 He made each Sunday holy and bles'd,
For he'd created all of the world and
Now indicated this day for rest.
continued in a Bible near you...
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