The angels look'd up into God's own eyes,
As He shut the gateways of Paradise;
For they heard coming up from the earth below
A wail as of mortals in deepest woe;
And bending their far keen vision down,
Saw two on the earth from whom hope had flown.
Then the foremost one of the angels said,
Drooping his wings and bowing his head—
'Here, Father, are two in Thy shape and ours
Who have lost the light of their bridal bowers,
And wander, blind in their tears, and tost
With the thoughts of their Eden for ever lost.'
Then God said, turning His face on him—
'Look once again, for thine eyes are dim.'
Then the angel look'd, and, lo! he could see
A smiling babe on the woman's knee.
While the man bent down, and within his eyes
Was the light of his former Paradise.
Then the angel whisper'd—'My fears were vain,
For man has found his lost Eden again.'