There's a legend as old as the calendar year, That I would tell you, my children dear, Of a Paschal eve and a Paschal morn When first the Pasque flower fair was born: Long, long ago, on a Paschal eve, By Cherubim, the sacred shreve, Sweet Mother Mary's tears were found— Like gleaming dew upon the ground— Before the Holy Sepulchre; And reverencing the grief of Her, He lifted high his gleaming sword, And blessed with sanctificial word Each of the Virgin's holy tears, And charged them: "Live through all the years As harbingers of every spring, The resurrection joy to bring." He touched them gently, bade them rise, And turn their faces to the skies. Lo! on the Rich Man's barren cru Were grown a thousand blossoms new! And so, at Paschal tide each year, Up through the tangled grasses sere, The modest little flowers peep From out the frozen ground, to keep The Holy Easter-tide with all Who heed the Season's clarion call. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FONTENOY, 1745: 1. BEFORE THE BATTLE: NIGHT by EMILY LAWLESS SEAWEED by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW LONDON'S SUMMER MORNING by MARY DARBY ROBINSON A HIGH-TONED OLD CHRISTIAN WOMAN by WALLACE STEVENS THE STEAM-ENGINE: CANTO 10. THE RAILWAY BOOM, 1845 by T. BAKER |