The Garden

The Lord 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.

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.

~Dorothy Frances Gurney