And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. — Genesis 3:8

I think I know the Father’s heart
in utter desolation,
watching fellowship depart
when Adam tore
the race apart.

No more twilight walks
in the quiet garden.

What Adam did!
He went and hid,
and God forbade
that he should live
in an eternal
world of sin.

But God’s heart bled
from the aching void
that held a universe inside.

And left alone
I think I feel
that awful pain
God must have felt:
a sullen earth,
an empty sky —
and for a love
that used to be
how one would even
dare to die . . .