Pot-pourri of Poems by Mary Andere

Easter Vigil - 1986, Wilburton

Here, the altar is the Garden,
and the daffodils are gold;
silver the many candlesticks.
They stand around the Tomb
like soldiers keeping guard.
Candlelight twinkles on them,
winking or shivering
as air currents make their play with them.
And I remember how the torches
flared in the Garden
as the rabble came
to get the Man that night …
The Man Who had made night and day
and all that is, seen and unseen …
The Man Who is more than man,
yet still Very Man …

It would take a wild spring wind
to make the daffodils move to-night
as they, too, stand their guard
around the Tomb.
Instead, they are still … so very still …
golden, but motionless,
doom-laden, heavy with grief.
They know, because their roots
had whispered it to them long, long ago,
how the Man had gone down
into the place of Shades …
(and the clock struck another hour
passing for ever
from our rosary of Time)
and all creation had suffered
in His dying, in His loss.
So the daffodils were motionless,
like old that is trapped,
silent, in the tomb of rock
which is the heart of the earth …

But the flames danced merrily
(merrily, merrily!)
because they knew (they knew, they knew,
since flames are born in the heart of GOD,
the Heart that is Love,
and so they know!)
they knew that even now and for evermore
the Man was coming up the slopes from Hell,
triumphant in His Victory,
resplendent in His Majesty,
radiant in Resurrection power …!
(And the clock struck again
for another passing hour …
and we grieve that too soon
we shall have to leave
and go out into the midnight air
under the Paschal moon,
and leave Him there, quietly sleeping in the Tomb).

But when dawn comes even the daffodils
will dance
and hold their heads up high
like golden trumpets heralding
their King,
because they, too, will know,
as the flames know,
that Christ is risen from the dead,
for ever and for evermore!

And the flames' dance was mirrored
in the silver bowls and the knops
and the stems of the candlesticks
(like torches accompanying the Bridegroom
to His Bride)
making a sign of joy amidst
the heavy sorrow of the hours.
And their dance was merry,
merry indeed, because they knew
(they knew, they knew …!


For flame is born in the Heart of GOD
and so they know
beyond the semblance of the outward sign!)
they knew that even now
the Lord is risen from the dead,
for ever and for evermore!