A CHILD’S EASTER
Annie Trumbull Slosson
Had I been there when Christ, our Lord, lay sleeping
Within that tomb in Joseph’s garden fair,
I would have watched all night beside my Saviour—
Had I been there.
Close to the hard, cold stone my soft cheek pressing,
I should have thought my head lay on His breast;
And dreaming that His dear arms were about me,
Have sunk to rest.
All through the long, dark night when others slumbered,
Close, close beside Him still I would have stayed,
And, knowing how He loved the little children,
Ne’er felt afraid.
“To-morrow,” to my heart I would have whispered,
“I will rise early in the morning hours,
And wand’ring o’er the hillside I will gather
The fairest flowers;
“Tall, slender lilies (for my Saviour loved them,
And tender words about their beauty spake),
And golden buttercups, and glad-eyed daisies,
But just awake:
“‘Grass of the field’ in waving, feath’ry beauty,
He clothed it with that grace, so fair but brief,
Mosses all soft and green, and crimson berry,
With glossy leaf.
“While yet the dew is sparkling on the blossoms,
I’ll gather them and lay them at His feet,
And make the blessed place where He is sleeping
All fair and sweet.
“The birds will come, I know, and sing above Him,
The sparrows whom He cared for when awake,
And they will fill the air with joyous music
For His dear sake!”
And, thinking thus, the night would soon be passing,
Fast drawing near that first glad Easter light.
Ah, Lord, if I could but have seen Thee leaving
The grave’s dark night!
I would have kept so still, so still, and clasping
My hands together as I do in prayer,
I would have knelt, reverent, but oh, so happy
Had I been there.
Perhaps He would have bent one look upon me;
Perhaps in pity for that weary night,
He would have laid on my uplifted forehead
A touch so light;
And all the rest of life I should have felt it,
A sacred sign upon my brow imprest,
And ne’er forgot that precious, lonely vigil,
So richly blest.
Dear Lord, through death and night I was not near Thee;
But in Thy risen glory can rejoice,
So, loud and glad in song this Easter morning,
Thou’lt hear my voice.