Maiden, awake! For Christ is born again! And let your feet disdain The paths whereby of late they have been led. Now Death itself is dead,
And Love hath birth, And all things mournful find no place on earth. This morn ye all must go another way Than ye went yesterday.
Not with sad faces shall ye silent go Where He hath suffered so; But where there be Full many flowers shall ye wend joyfully.
Moreover, too, ye must be clad in white, As if the ended night Were but your bridal-morn's foreshadowing. And ye must also sing
In angel-wise: So shall ye be most worthy in His eyes. Maidens, arise! I know where many flowers Have grown these many hours
To make more perfect this glad Easter-day; Where tall white lilies sway On slender stem, Waiting for you to come and garner them;
Where banks of mayflowers are, all pink and white, Which will Him well delight; And yellow buttercups, and growing grass Through which the Spring winds pass;
And mosses wet, Well strown with many a new-born violet. All these and every other flower are here. Will ye not draw anear
And gather them for Him, and in His name, Whom all men now proclaim Their living King? Behold how all these wait your harvesting!
Moreover, see the darkness of His house! Think ye that He allows Such glory of glad color and perfume, But to destroy the gloom
That hath held fast His altar-place these many days gone past? For this alone these blossoms had their birth,— To show His perfect worth!
Therefore, O Maidens, ye must go apace To that strange garden-place And gather all These living flowers for His high festival.
For now hath come the long-desired day, Wherein Love hath full sway! Open the gates, O ye who guard His home, His handmaidens are come!
Open them wide, That all may enter in this Easter-tide! Then, maidens, come, with song and lute-playing, And all your wild flowers bring
And strew them on His altar; while the sun — Seeing what hath been done — Shines strong once more, Knowing that Death hath Christ for conqueror.
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