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Easter Sunday. FRIAR CUTHBERT preaching to the crowd from a pulpit in the open air. PRINCE HENRY and ELSIE crossing the square.
PRINCE HENRY. THIS is the day, when from the dead | |
| Our Lord arose; and everywhere, | |
| Out of their darkness and despair, | |
| Triumphant over fears and foes, | |
| The hearts of his disciples rose, | 5 |
| When to the women, standing near, | |
| The Angel in shining vesture said, | |
| “The Lord is risen; he is not here!” | |
| And, mindful that the day is come, | |
| On all the hearths in Christendom | 10 |
| The fires are quenched, to be again | |
| Rekindled from the sun, that high | |
| Is dancing in the cloudless sky. | |
| The churches are all decked with flowers, | |
| The salutations among men | 15 |
| Are but the Angel’s words divine, | |
| “Christ is arisen!” and the bells | |
| Catch the glad murmur, as it swells, | |
| And chant together in their towers. | |
| All hearts are glad; and free from care | 20 |
| The faces of the people shine. | |
| See what a crowd is in the square, | |
| Gayly and gallantly arrayed! | |
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ELSIE. Let us go back; I am afraid! | |
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PRINCE HENRY. Nay, let us mount the church-steps here, | 25 |
| Under the doorway’s sacred shadow; | |
| We can see all things, and be freer | |
| From the crowd that madly heaves and presses! | |
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ELSIE. What a gay pageant! what bright dresses! | |
| It looks like a flower-besprinkled meadow. | 30 |
| What is that yonder on the square? | |
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PRINCE HENRY. A pulpit in the open air, | |
| And a Friar, who is preaching to the crowd | |
| In a voice so deep and clear and loud, | |
| That, if we listen, and give heed, | 35 |
| His lowest words will reach the ear. | |
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FRIAR CUTHBERT, gesticulating and cracking a postilion’s whip. What ho! good people! do you not hear? | |
| Dashing along at the top of his speed, | |
| Booted and spurred, on his jaded steed, | |
| A courier comes with words of cheer. | 40 |
| Courier! what is the news, I pray? | |
| “Christ is arisen!” Whence come you? “From court.” | |
| Then I do not believe it; you say it in sport. Cracks his whip again. | |
| Ah, here comes another, riding this way; | |
| We soon shall know what he has to say. | 45 |
| Courier! what are the tidings to-day? | |
| “Christ is arisen!” Whence come you? “From town.” | |
| Then I do not believe it; away with you, clown. Cracks his whip more violently. | |
| And here comes a third, who is spurring amain; | |
| What news do you bring, with your loose-hanging rein, | 50 |
| Your spurs wet with blood, and your bridle with foam? | |
| “Christ is arisen!” Whence come you? “From Rome.” | |
| Ah, now I believe. He is risen, indeed. | |
| Ride on with the news, at the top of your speed! Great applause among the crowd. | |
| To come back to my text! When the news was first spread | 55 |
| That Christ was arisen indeed from the dead, | |
| Very great was the joy of the angels in heaven; | |
| And as great the dispute as to who should carry | |
| The tidings thereof to the Virgin Mary, | |
| Pierced to the heart with sorrows seven. | 60 |
| Old Father Adam was first to propose, | |
| As being the author of all our woes; | |
| But he was refused, for fear, said they, | |
| He would stop to eat apples on the way! | |
| Abel came next, but petitioned in vain, | 65 |
| Because he might meet with his brother Cain! | |
| Noah, too, was refused, lest his weakness for wine | |
| Should delay him at every tavern-sign; | |
| And John the Baptist could not get a vote, | |
| On account of his old-fashioned camel’s-hair coat; | 70 |
| And the Penitent Thief, who died on the cross, | |
| Was reminded that all his bones were broken! | |
| Till at last, when each in turn had spoken, | |
| The company being still at loss, | |
| The Angel, who rolled away the stone, | 75 |
| Was sent to the sepulchre, all alone. | |
| And filled with glory that gloomy prison, | |
| And said to the Virgin, “The Lord is arisen!” The Cathedral bells ring. | |
| But hark! the bells are beginning to chime; | |
| And I feel that I am growing hoarse. | 80 |
| I will put an end to my discourse, | |
| And leave the rest for some other time. | |
| For the bells themselves are the best of preachers; | |
| Their brazen lips are learned teachers, | |
| From their pulpits of stone, in the upper air, | 85 |
| Sounding aloft, without crack or flaw, | |
| Shriller than trumpets under the Law, | |
| Now a sermon, and now a prayer. | |
| The clangorous hammer is the tongue, | |
| This way, that way, beaten and swung, | 90 |
| That from mouth of brass, as from Mouth of Gold, | |
| May be taught the Testaments, New and Old. | |
| And above it the great cross-beam of wood | |
| Representeth the Holy Rood, | |
| Upon which, like the bell, our hopes are hung. | 95 |
| And the wheel wherewith it is swayed and rung | |
| Is the mind of man, that round and round | |
| Sways, and maketh the tongue to sound! | |
| And the rope, with its twisted cordage three, | |
| Denoteth the Scriptural Trinity | 100 |
| Of Morals, and Symbols, and History; | |
| And the upward and downward motion show | |
| That we touch upon matters high and low; | |
| And the constant change and transmutation | |
| Of action and of contemplation, | 105 |
| Downward, the Scripture brought from on high, | |
| Upward, exalted again to the sky; | |
| Downward, the literal interpretation, | |
| Upward, the Vision and Mystery! | |
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| And now, my hearers, to make an end, | 110 |
| I have only one word more to say; | |
| In the church, in honor of Easter day | |
| Will be presented a Miracle Play; | |
| And I hope you will all have the grace to attend. | |
| Christ bring us at last to his felicity! | 115 |
| Pax vobiscum! et Benedicite! | |
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