Poems (Hoffman)/Eden
EDEN
Sweet Eden garden of delight Abode of innocence,Alas, that sin should ever blight Thy halcyon loveliness!
Amid thy bowers of fadeless Spring Love hastened to abideAnd Purity with spotless wing Dwelt ever at her side;
In thee, the wild beast's savage power To gentleness was awedAnd in the cool of evening hour Was heard the voice of God.
Rejoicing angels sang their psalms, Glad heralds of thy birth,And peace breathed through thy waving palms Thou emerald gem of earth!
Brightness and freshness, love and peace And changeless joy were thineO why should all thy promise cease Thy dawn so soon decline!
Lost is thy dower of sweet content, Fallen thy 'matchless worth,Soon was thy day of glory spent Thou paradise of earth!
Sweet Eden, garden of delight! Great was thy sudden fallBut Memory throughout Time's swift flight Oft doth thy charms recall.
No more the joys of thy brief reign To thy dim aisles belongYet doth thy beauty bloom again In Earth's immortal song.