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.”

  

                                       - by D.F.Gurney