Poetry for Easter and Spring
Picture by David Russell Mosley
This past year has been one of great poetic creativity for me. Not only has it seen me finish one book of poetry, but I’ve begun work on a second. While my first book (which will hopefully be out this Summer) focused primarily on creation and how we might find the deeper truths behind and upholding reality through reality itself, this second book is more liturgically focused. It is tentatively titled Liturgical Entanglements and largely follows the Church Calendar. Each major of the season of the Church Calendar will contain seven sonnets reflecting on various aspects of that season. I’ve also added some poems for the mysteries of the rosary (20 in all), the 14 Stations of the Cross, the 7 planets, and am even contemplating poems for the 12 sections of the Apostles’ Creed.
Today, however, I want to share with you the poems I’ve written thus far for Easter. I don’t have all 7 written yet, but 4 I have written give a good idea of what I’m trying to achieve in this book.
"The Radiance of Joy”
Arise! Arise and meet the risen One.
The Sun is dawning on the newest day.
Death has lost, the devil has not won,
The dead seed is now a tree come out to play.
The week has been re-written and now ends
On the day God said, “Let there be Light.”
The Light has been unveiled and eternally sends
The radiance of Joy to those lost in the night.
The first is now the eighth, eternal present,
And its Light shall never be put out,
But we only see in part, like the lunar crescent
Our sight is dimmed by our fear and doubt.
But today we know that Death has been defeated
And the King is on his throne, in peace he’s seated.
“Unveil”
O Lord, please show me your unseeable face,
Even though if I see it I will die.
O take me up into that placeless place,
The celestial rose that forms the celestial eye.
Raise me as you raised your blessed Son,
Let what is dead come forth into new life.
The seed you planted now rises with the sun,
A vine with branches ready for the knife.
Prune back the dead to give new life a way
Of growing in the home you’ve made for us.
Give us songs to sing and games to play,
For our bodies will be raised out of the dust.
Until that day we with the angels sing,
And rejoice for the coming of our King.
“Spring after Winter”
The once-dead Earth is coming back to life,
We see the first fruits rising from the ground.
We hear the music of the birds whose flight
Signals that the land is no longer drowned.
Drinking deep of this life-giving water,
The means of death have caused new life to be;
Life from death and joy comes with it after
Death and decay have gone into the sea.
And the Sun now rises more golden than before,
The Moon and Stars more luminous and bright.
All we have to do is open up the door
And not allow ourselves to fear the night.
For there is one who knocks at the door for us,
And he breathes life into the meanest dust.
“The Seeds of Resurrection”
Spring winds blow the seeds of resurrection,
Daffodils are bursting from the ground.
Snow drops and tulips and buds on trees are found
In the morning of the vernal insurrection.
Birds begin to their mating communication,
Badger brock begins to stir around,
Squirrels and rabbits dance in the sun and bound
About in a graceful dance of exaltation.
But where is the new life of Spring in me?
How can I find joy in every moment?
And how can I learn to grow into my being?
Make me a new creation, let me see
The part I play in this cosmic movement
So I can be myself at last and sing.
