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 abide
And Purity with spotless wing
Dwelt ever at her side;
In thee, the wild beast's savage power
To gentleness was awed
And 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 thine
O 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 fall
But Memory throughout Time's swift flight
Oft doth thy charms recall.
No more the joys of thy brief reign
To thy dim aisles belong
Yet doth thy beauty bloom again
In Earth's immortal song.
