A Communicant's First Easter
by Denny Lancaster
240410
Before man knew beginning of years
God came to earth and made for man
time to know and the flow of tears;
Pain trickled like sand that ran
and pleasure without pain for leaven
so in summer, with flowers that fell;
To remember the one fallen from heaven,
and in madness was condemned to hell;
And God's hands rose not to us smite
but gave love to endure for a breath,
when night, the shadow of his light
gave life arisen, the shadow to death.
And on high the Saints took us in hand
with fire and the falling of those tears,
and gave measure to the falling sand
from henceforth a beginning of our years;
And HIS breath set adrift the valley sea,
and dust laden lay fallow on earth,
but in the houses death and birth;
And brought forth weeping and laughter,
and fashioned both with HIS own love
with life through the SON, there after
and death would be beneath the above,
for a day and a night and a morrow,
that HIS strength might endure a span
with no end except with death and sorrow,
except for those in the holy spirit of man.
Earth took shape from winds north and south
creatures gathered as if unto its strife;
HIS breath flowed from HIS holy mouth,
and filled man's body with HIS life;
Eyesight and speech were then wrought
for the veils of the soul therein,
and a time for labor and for thought,
a time to harvest, to serve and to sin;
And HE gave us a light in his own ways,
and the son and spirit's space a delight,
and beauty and length for our earth's days,
and darkness, so man may sleep at night.
HIS speech came to man in a burning fire;
with HIS lips the earth HE travailed;
and in our hearts not a blind desire,
for in HIS eyes our foreknowledge-death;
With us he weaved clothing with derision;
and man sowed, so that HE would always reap;
But man would know that life is but a vision
between a sleep and awakening from a sleep.
Time after the conversion is of wine and sweet
with multitudinous days and nights and tears
and many mixings of lay in these remaining years,
where once life was trodden under our feet,
cast out and split from some holy places:
Now life is given anew as a wafer to eat
and death to drink as the wine; that the light
might never ebb, nor be drawn into the night
nor hid one second from our new born faces.
For now in mass the cup raised for us to know
sin is cleansed and made purer than the snow,
one blight or many forgiven redemption we gain,
and the one cast from heaven will now be slain.
Footnote: Our spiritual home is at St. Dominic Catholic Church in Mobile, Alabama. On Easter of 2002 my wife, our daughter Caroline and myself became members of the Catholic faith. Although we have just begun our journey and have now celebrated our first year.
Vigil Service is the Saturday before Easter. We entered our church with candles which were lit to bring light to the darkness.
.