Adam’s Garden

I walked through Adam's Garden
when you and I were young.
The lilacs bloomed and the crickets crooned
beneath a summer sun.
And you sat beside a silver pool,
combing your coal-black hair.
And there was enough beauty and love
for every living thing to share.

You were Adam's mistress
and I was like his brother.
We swam and played and spent each day
in the warmth of one another.
And even one night when you lay by my side,
I never thought to care,
for there was enough beauty and love
for all of us to share.

But when the new day's dawn did break,
I felt Adam kicking me away.
He called me a traitor; he called me a snake.
"You must leave," he said to me.
And I watched you as you walked away,
your eyes cast down as if to say
that it always has to end this way.
No one's heart is totally free.

Oh I walked through Adam's Garden
in my dream the other night.
It was overgrown and I was alone,
but my heart it felt so light.
For Paradise is still inside me
even if you're no longer there.
And there is enough beauty and love –
I will always have a share.
There is enough beauty and love –
I will always have a share.

Tam Lin