When Adam heard the voice of sin

I
When Adam heard the voice of sin
And fell before its power,
The flowers of Paradise were shorn
Of beauty in that hour.

II
And clouds obscured the heavenly light,
And e’en the stars were dim;
For O ’twas night, and only night,
Dark night ’twixt God and him.

III
“O whence that flashing sword that gleams?
And whence those angels there?”
Out from the garden of their bliss,
Was thrust the guilty pair.

IV
Life is not theirs, the tree of Life
The Cherubim surround;
Death dogs our guilty parents’ steps,
Curse blasts the fertile ground.

V
O dreary, dreary, dark and dread,
O misery of sin!
“God make another garden fair,
And take Thy wanderers in.”

VI
All praise to Christ our glorious Lord,
For sin and death are slain;
The gates of heaven are open wide,
And life is ours again.

Hymns from the East, 1907