Music of the Spheres

This poem is largely based on Paradise Lost by John Milton and class discussions on it. More generally, it is about the "music of the spheres" being created out of chaos. Many medieval writers and scientists believed in a scientifically inaccurate but poetically appealing model of the universe: the earth is in the center, the planets and sun are in spheres that orbit the earth, and God surrounds everything. The planets spin in their spheres out of love for God. This spinning creates "the music of the spheres" (think of running your finger around a crystal glass) which gives glory to God. The earth is fallen in sin and is therefore in the center, the farthest place from God. It does not move, nor does it create music. Anyway, this poem is about the chaos of "the deep" before creation, and the beautiful order afterwards.
The pun on “crystal” was taken from Spenser's The Faerie Queene and the idea of angels shining when laughing is from Dante's Paradiso.

Music of the Spheres 2/2010
Falling trumpets
blast
a noise
of madness, as when
Lucifer cast
from Paradise
did
fall
and hit the noisesome land
with spear and clatter-shield
in hand.

What hellish noise is
this?
Ascending
from the
pit of Dis?
As does thunder, chaos kiss.

But long before, in unison they met,
And out of chaos, order did beget:

The falling trumpets
blow a fanfare loud and sweet,
As does music order greet.
The Christall spheres go round and round
To echo back their bold resound:
“What God has made! Come look! Come see!”
As angels shimmer in their glee
And music spheres go round and round
And trumpets trump the triumph sound.