Classic Poem

THE RESURRECTION .

The setting orb of nighTher level ray
Shed o'er the land, and, on the dewy sward,
The lengthen'd shadows of the triple cross
Were laid far stretch'd, when in the east arose,
Last of the stars, day's harbinger. No sound
Was heard, save of the watching soldier's foot:
Within the rock-barred sepulchre, the gloom
Of deepest midnight brooded o'er the dead,
The holy one; but, lo! a radiance faint
Began to dawn around his sacred brow:
The linen vesture seem'd a snowy wreath
Drifted by storms into a mountain cave:
Bright and more bright the circling halo beam'd
Upon that face, clothed in a smile benign,
Though yet exanimate. Nor long the reign
Of death; the eyes, that wept for human griefs,
Unclose, and look around with conscious joy;
Yes, with returning life, the first emotion
That glow'd in Jesus' breast of love was joy
At man's redemption now complete; at death
Disarm'd; the grave transform'd into the couch
Of faith; the resurrection, and the life
Majestical he rose; trembled the earth;
The ponderous gate of stone was roll'd away;
The keepers fell; the angel, awe-struck, shrunk
Into invisibility, while forth
The Saviour of the World walk'd, and stood
Before the sepulchre, and view'd the clouds
Empurpled glorious by the rising sun.