The First Easter (poem)

1910

The First Easter
By Wilbur D. Nesbit

"In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher." – Matthew xxviii, 1.

Spikenard and frankincense and myrrh,
And spices savory, and sweet,
They brought unto the sepulcher,
To lay them at the wounded feet.
Their precious gifts their hands between,
They came in that first Easter dawn;
And she who was called Magdalene
Before the others hastened on.

But at the door the spices slipped
From hands upraised in reverence,
And from the ground, unheeded, dripped
Spikenard and myrrh and frankincense.
With finger on her lips she turned
And in a whisper tense with awe,
With eyes that in their rapture burned
She told the glory that she saw.

The tomb aglow with holy light,
A radiant one of gentle voice,
Whose lustrous wings were jewel bright,
Whose lips made music thus: "Rejoice!
Your hearts no more need shelter fear."
And one sat where had been His head,
Who said to them: "He is not here,
For he has risen, as he said."

Then, turning back upon their way,
They set their feet: and then the sun
Flung from its arms the Easter day,
As bright as was that shining one.
And she that was called Magdalene
Paused, for before the sepulcher
A lily, stately and serene,
New-bloomed, flung back the dawn to her.

--The Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis, Indiana, March 27, 1910, page 1 of magazine section.