2017 - Adam, Adam, Where Are You?

Adam, Adam, where are you?

The beautiful garden knew not Until this very moment What thunder means, what storms, How terrible the lightning's flash!

But lo—the darkness gathered close, And branches trembled and swayed, And terror pierced through all, And peace in Eden fled.

The animals and birds made haste To hide themselves away, Who never knew the fear That gripped them in that hour,

And with them too the man Fled, hurried to find shelter, He who knew precisely well From whence the evil came…

And new words born within His mind began to take their shape, Names he gave to them, As once he named the beasts:

"Fear… horror… evil… dread…" In consciousness they took their place, And straightway for all ages Were passed on down to us…

But there, through wind's wild cry, Through thunder's rolling peals, The blinding lightning's glare, Insistently there sounded

To him so dear and known, Familiar from his birth, The voice of Heaven's Maker, The Lord's call echoed clear:

"Adam, Adam, where are you? Adam, where do you hide from me?" As if the Lord did not know Where the fugitive lay concealed.

He crouched there in the brush, From God's own presence hiding, Yet still the Voice called out, The Father still called to His son…

The son pressed to his heart His frightened, trembling Eve, Who shook like any leaf When thunder shook the sky,

That fruit which he had tasted, That robbed him of his heaven, With which he grew unclean, Forever now cut off…

And still the Voice cried out With insistence and with strictness, Through darkness closing in With love and deep despair,

And tore the heart in two Of him who fled from God, What he could not conceal, That he now stood made bare…

"All's terrible and grave… Look, I have lost my Friend… O, how I fell so low, Cannot excuse myself…"

And through the tears that flowed, Through lips gone parched and cracked, He whispered soft and low In answer to his Maker: "Here am I…"