Joy V. Sheridan & David Russell write

Quest Triste
Section 1

Part One

All darkness did abound, as Time in all its motions 
Contracted and expanded; the constellations flickered, then died. 
A moment of absolute darkness, flashing the perpetual. 
Then, from multitudinous sources 
Stars, suns and comets did explode: the Heavens were aflame 
With radiance indefinable, iridescence hanging 
Like Aurora Borealis over the Pole.

Ice-encrusted were the caverns, snow-topped the glaciers 
No heat, no flame, nor yet a name. 
There, in perpetual chill 
A diaphanous mind gave birth to human form: 
Oh charms, oh incantations, 
The blended voice of every nation. 
What they in this chilly silence knew 
Was but a question mark - New, Old and Never new. 

Far to the South, volcanoes erupted: 
The ice-floes cracked, their substance violated. 
This question mark did hang above the polar foci: 
What was this formless, nameless entity?

She threw in all her force and writhed 
All colours were suffused, diversified: 
Then, from this melting pot of ice a mortal form 
Without device or artifice, appeared 
A youth upon the waters 
Rose from the abyss of mortal years.

His mother nameless and his source unknown 
Now thirteen years upon the water's throne.