The banquet ended, plates still overflow,
And with the crumbs twelve baskets then they fill.
The stuffed boy strives with undigested fare,
The waiter groans beneath his heavy load.
Who can a great feast spread from stores so few?
Who but the maker . . .
[W]ho shaped the world from nought?
Almighty God without the aid of seed
Fashioned the earth, not as the sculptor works
To lift the block of bronze from metal fused.
All that now is, was nought. . . .
Small was the first creation, but it grew
Till it became the mighty universe.
Therefore, when I behold that meager fare
Thus multiplied within the hands of Christ,
Can I doubt that the elemental forms
First made by him from nothing, . . .
Have grown to that perfection we now see?
Lest fragments should be trodden on and lost,
. . . [O]r should become the spoil
Of wolves or foxes or of petty mice,
Twelve men were charged to heap in baskets full
The gifts of Christ to keep and spread afar.

Prudentius, from A Hymn on the Trinity

Aurelius Clemens Prudentius (ca. 348–ca. 410) was a Latin poet. Born in Spain, he studied law and twice served as governor of a province before devoting his later life to writing Christian poetry and hymns.