BEFORE THE WORLD BEGAN Before the world began Lord, breathe life Over the land* Before there was a heaven or an earth There was only the blue sea And in the center of the sea stood a green tree. And on this green tree sat three doves And the three doves deliberated And deliberated as to how the earth should be created: "Let's dive down to the bottom of the sea And get a few grains of fine sand These grains we'll sow Creating a fertile land. Let's also get golden stones These stones we'll toss into the air Creating the bright heavens. Oh, the bright heavens, a sun full of light. Oh, a sun full of light and moon so bright Oh, a bright moon and bright stars. Oh, bright stars and shimmering galaxies." * refrain is repeated after every line traditional winter song the oldest version of this text is found in the Bernatsky Book of Carols (1693) translated from Ukrainian by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps
Share this post
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_120,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F791feada-ed15-4819-93f2-6ba4e8db28d5_3000x3000.png)
"BEFORE THE WORLD BEGAN"
hopebarnes.substack.com
"BEFORE THE WORLD BEGAN"
translated by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps
Feb 26, 2022
"BEFORE THE WORLD BEGAN"