Experiment #1 With Dover Beach

Here is an effort at simply translating Dover Beach into synonyms. I am not very happy, but think I want to memorialize the process of the experiment:

Once, long ago, in a Garden,
The world seemed bright and fair.
Easy it was to tell virtue from sin
And the message of faith quite clear.
Oh, long years of toil,
Long years of tears.
And yet it seemed a great mantle
Lay over the world
Smoothing the valleys and mountains
Making straight the way of the Lord.
Oh, long years of toil,
Long years of tears:
One faith alone, one vision,
One wisdom from old
Handed down from father to son.
It seemed the same story was told.
Oh, long years of toil,
Long years of tears.
But the one sword lies shattered,
The one book is burned.
The faith that united is fettered.
And long years of learning are spurned.
Oh, long years of toil,
Long years of tears.
Then what is left now
When hero and cause are fallen?
Cling to your vows
Make true love your only calling.