Picturing the second 'day' of creation as the bible portrays it, is quite a challenge for the modern mind. None of us has much experience of 'vaults' - an arched roof. We have to punch our brains to realise what the scribe means by the 'abyss' - a tremendous pit or underground cavern. God fixes those heights and depths firmly, with our earth safely between.

Once I had pictured that 'naive' scenario, I asked myself how to present it to modern minds and what lessons it has for us.

The result is not a classic sonnet: Every line has five strong beats (well, mostly!) but the early lines are deliberately short and very steady, whereas the third verse is crowded with syllables, giving a rushed feeling of panic. Read the final couplet dramatically: it is a real 'cri-de-coeur'.

DAY 2 : THE VAULT AND THE ABYSS
( Genesis 1, 6-8; Mt 27,46; Mk 15,34)

The vault above us, the abyss below;
An ordered firmament: the second day.
A child’s-eye view. The primitive need to know
The framework of our lives won’t totter and sway.

The arching sky, firm in its distant place,
The solid earth, not shaking under our feet,
Welcome the toddler’s confidence. Protective space!
Explore and marvel and govern. Progress sweet.

WE have probed and questioned and shaken the foundations.
In this parentless world, we can pull the sky down on our heads.
The abyss of drugs and defeat issues devouring invitations.
Tossed among the flotsam and jetsam, what hope can we spread?

Anchor of the universe, where have you gone?
Will the God we have forsaken, reclaim his dying son?