OUT of the darkness and shadow of death, <br />Out of the anguish that wells from the tomb, <br />Into the splendor of spiritual breath, <br />Now we have burst like a lily in bloom; <br />Sweetened is sorrow and strengthened is hope, <br />Death and the grave have been robbed of their sting; <br />Doubting, despairing, no longer we grope, <br />Man has been given the courage to sing. <br /> <br />Easter! the birthday of hope and of peace! <br />Easter! the bulwark of all we believe; <br />Lo, all our waitings and sad meanings cease, <br />Death has been shorn of its power to grieve. <br />See! now a mother, her cheeks wan and white, <br />Smilingly sinks into slumber most blest; <br />Her soul unto Heaven is borne through the night, <br />And she wakes in the morn with her babe at her breast. <br /> <br />Look! from a newly made grave comes a man, <br />Feeble and bowed by the struggles of life, <br />'She waits for my coming,' he says, ' and the span <br />Is but short for me now to the side of my wife. <br />Though I miss her, I mourn not her going, I know <br />That she is at rest, and far happier there; <br />And I wait but the summons when I am to go <br />To the valley of peace, from the land of despair.' <br /> <br />And this is the meaning of Easter's glad songs, <br />And this is the reason that Easter is gay; <br />'He is risen,' we sing, 'He has righted earth's wrongs, <br />From the mouth of the tomb see the stone rolled away." <br />Yes, out of the darkness and gloom of the tomb, <br />He has risen, our Master, our Lord and our King! <br />And we view not life's end as a signal of doom, <br />But the birth of new life, and we've courage to sing.<br /><br />Edgar Albert Guest<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/easter-54/
