A depiction of the Garden of Eden and “topography of the earthly paradise” by Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680), from 1675
And YHWH, god, planted a garden,
in Eden
in the east
And put there the man
whom he had formed
and YHWH, god, caused to spring up
from the ground
all the trees
pleasant to look at
and good to eat
and the tree of life
in the middle of the garden
and the tree of knowledge
of good-and-bad
And a river leaves Eden
to water the garden
and from there it will be divided
and it will become four ‘heads’
The name of one (is) Pishon
it surrounds all the land of Havilah
where there is gold.
And the gold of the land is good;
bdellium and stone of onyx
The name of the second river (is) Gihon
it surrounds all the land of Cush
The name of the third river Tigris
it goes east of Assyria
And the fourth river is Euphrates
O Lord, in whom is our hope,
remove far from us, we pray thee,
empty hopes and presumptuous confidence.
Make our hearts so right with thy most holy and loving heart,
that hoping in thee we may do good;
until that day when faith and hope
shall be abolished by sight and possession,
and love shall be all in all.
Christina Rossetti (1830-94)