Poems (Hoffman)/Easter Hymn

by Martha Lavinia Hoffman

For works with similar titles, see Easter Hymn.

EASTER HYMN

'Tis morn in Joseph's garden now
Where death and night and darkness were,
The lilies still in sadness bow
Around the Saviour's sepulcher,
Angels in shining garments clad
Speak first the word that mortals heed
'Till Nature, wrapt in gloom, is glad;
The Lord is risen, is risen indeed.

Gladly they bear the message on
Who stood beside His empty tomb,
The night is o'er, the darkness gone
The angels sing, the lilies bloom.
Powerless the chains of death to bind
The captive from their bondage freed,
Death's dreary dungeon left behind,
The Lord is risen, is risen indeed.

As rose the sun above the heights
Chasing the gloom from earth and skies
Behold above the night of nights
The Sun of Righteousness arise;
Burst are the chains of death and hell,
Go ye, who hear the message, speed,
Above the graves of nations tell
The Lord is risen, is risen indeed.

'Tis morn upon the earth, once more,
Sweet Easter morn when lilies spring
To greet the sun from shore to shore
And saints rejoice and angels sing;
All nature now breaks forth in song
And Easter anthem angels lead
With joyful hearts the strains prolong,
The Lord is risen, is risen indeed.

'Tis morn, the gospel light has streamed
From Africa's coast to India's strand,
The dawn of which the prophet dreamed
Is flooding each benighted land.
Above the vanities of men
O'er crumbling shrine and moldering creed
High o'er the mountain tops of sin
The Lord is risen, is risen indeed.