Classic Poem

I grieved to think that ye no more would see
The bud upon the tree,
Or watch the golden Easter-lilies shake,
When the sweet Spring winds wake,
Or hear again the lark, unseen, prolong
The new world's song.

I grieved that of the Spring your share and lot
Would be some unknown spot,
Where she will spread her grass-quilt soft and green,
In silence and unseen,
And the lark's song pour from his throbbing breast,
Unheard, above your rest.

And then I dreamed, and lo, a garden fair
Lay in the morning air,
And He who rose long since in the Spring dawn
Walked on a sunny lawn,
And the first beauty of the Easter day
Had never passed away.

And many walked with Him among the flowers
Thro' the long sunny hours,
Like the young men the women saw in white
In the dim Easter light;
And fruit hung on the trees, and every leaf
Healed some sad nation's grief,
And when they drank of the clear crystal streams,
Sorrow and death were dreams!