God's Garden

THE Lord God planted a garden
          In the first white days of the world,
      And He set there an angel warden
          In a garment of light enfurled.

      So near to the peace of Heaven,
          That the hawk might nest with the wren,
      For there in the cool of the even
          God walked with the first of men.

      And I dream that these garden-closes
          With their shade and their sun-flecked sod
      And their lilies and bowers of roses,
          Were laid by the hand of God.

      The kiss of the sun for pardon,
          The song of the birds for mirth,--
      One is nearer God's heart in a garden
          Than anywhere else on earth.

      For He broke it for us in a garden
          Under the olive-trees
      Where the angel of strength was the warden
          And the soul of the world found ease.