"And they shall rise again!" Oh, words of comfort given
To many hearts by sorrow borne unto the earth!
"And they shall rise again!" The gates of death are riven,
And forth, immortal, steps the Soul unto her birth!
Long had they lain in vast Nepenthe's hidden coffers,
The germs of life that silent waited but the call
Of Love Divine to seize upon the gift it proffers,
And to throw back and off, forever, the dark pall.
"And they shall rise again!" Arise to glories bounding
No earth-born vision, and no span of fleeting days,
But, born of depths which life thus far had been but sounding,
The heirs of Heaven's crown and its immortal praise!
"And they shall rise again!" Oh joys of hope eternal!
That though we, weeping, lay them 'neath the heavy sod,
God's angels, guarding now, behold their spring supernal,
And hold them trusting, waiting but the call of God!
So shall this Easter morn, to-day, bring to us waiting,
His Word fulfilled,—His gift of gifts above all price!
For Earth and Light and Air are all to us relating
The glories borne at dawn from shores of Paradise!