For years unnumbered I was pure and fair;
When God created me to move in space,
His peerless smile was mirrored in my face,
There was a glory on me everywhere.

My mantle was of flowers and blossoms rare,
My gardens bloomed with an undying grace;
Of dark decay there was no blighting trace,
Death of my bosom's riches had no share.

But then, alas! man in his weakness came,
Upon me lived and loved, and wept and smiled
Perishing swiftly as he swiftly spread,
While I, all-pure, to my eternal shame,
Was by his crowded carrion defiled,
And filled each day with foul and sheeted dead!