The Almighty had made the earth
       a gleaming plain girdled with waters;
       in His splendor He set the sun and the moon
       to be earth's lamplight, lanterns for men,
       and filled the broad lap of the world
       with branches and leaves; and quickened life
       in every other thing that moved.

Lines 92-98 of Beowulf, trans. Seamus Heaney.