Easter Copywork Selections

A SONG of EASTER

Sing, children, sing!
And the lily censers swing;
Sing that life and joy are waking and that Death no more is king.
Sing the happy, happy tumult of the slowly brightening Spring: Sing, little children, sing!
Sing, children, sing!
Winter wild has taken wing.
Fill the air with the sweet tidings till the frosty echoes ring!
Along the eaves the icicles no longer glittering cling.
And the crocus in the garden lifts its bright face to the sun,
And in the meadows softly the brooks begin to run,
And the golden catkins swing
In the warm airs of the Spring;
Sing, little children, sing!

Sing, children, sing!
The lilies white you bring
In the joyous Easter morning for hope are blossoming;
And as the earth her shroud of snow from off her breast doth fling,
So may we cast our fetters off in God's eternal Spring.
So may we find release at last from sorrow and from pain.
So may we find our childhood's calm, delicious dawn again.
Sweet are your eyes, O little ones, that look with smiling grace,
Without a shade of doubt or fear into the future's face!

Sing, sing in happy chorus, with joyful voices tell
That death is life, and God is good, and all things shall be well;
That bitter days shall cease
In warmth and light and peace,
That Winter yields to Spring,---
Sing, little children, sing!

~Celia Thaxter

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AN EASTER PROCESSIONAL

Let us sing of bright morn breaking
From the glorious east;
Lilies fair their sheaths forsaking;
Larks in light their music making;
Sing the song of wings and waking
That befits our feast !

Apple boughs in white are dressing,
And in heaven's blue arch
Little clouds, like cherubs pressing
Rank on rank with cheeks caressing,
Shed their softness like a blessing
On our joyful march!

~Helen Gray Cone

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EASTER MORNING

Pines whose whispers fill the air...
Birches bowed as if in prayer...
Benedictions everywhere
On Easter morning.

On the mountain's azure crest,
Far above the placid breast
Of the lake, are clouds at rest
On Easter morning.

Butterflies, and birds, and bees...
Altar-hills, and singing trees...
Faith is born of things like these,
On Easter morning.

~Louise Abney

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AN EASTER CAROL

Sweetly the birds are singing
At Easter dawn,
Sweetly the bells are ringing
On Easter morn,
And the words that they say
On Easter day
Are---"Christ the Lord is risen."

Birds! forget not your singing
At Easter dawn;
Bells! be ye ever ringing
On Easter morn.
In the spring of the year,
When Easter is here,
Sing---"Christ the Lord is risen."

Buds! ye will soon be flowers,
Cherry and white;
Snow-storms are changing to showers,
Darkness to light.
With the wak'ning of spring,
Oh, sweetly sing---
"Lo! Christ the Lord is risen."

Easter buds were growing
Ages ago;
Easter lilies were blowing
By water's flow.
All nature was glad,
No creature was sad,
For Christ the Lord was risen.

~Emily D. Chapman

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AN EASTER CANTICLE

In every trembling bud and bloom
That cleaves the earth, a flowery sword,
I see Thee come from out the tomb,
Thou risen Lord.

In every April wind that sings
Down lanes that make the heart rejoice;
Yea, in the word the wood-thrush brings,
I hear Thy voice.

Lo! every tulip is a cup
To hold Thy morning's brimming wine;
Drink, O my soul, the wonder up---
Is it not Thine?

The great Lord God, invisible,
Hath roused to rapture the green grass;
Through sunlit mead and dew-drenched dell,
I see Him pass.

His old immortal glory wakes
The rushing streams and emerald hills;
His ancient trumpet softly shakes
The daffodils.

Thou art not dead! Thou art the whole
Of life that quickens in the sod;
Green April is Thy very soul,
Thou great Lord God.

~Charles Hanson Towne

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A PRAYER in SPRING

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.

Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swam dilating round the perfect trees.

And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid air stands still.

For this is love and nothing else is love,
The which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends He will,
But which it only needs that we fulfill.

~Robert Frost

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SING, ALL YE CHRISTIAN PEOPLE !

Sing, all ye Christian people!
Swing, bells, in every steeple!
For Christ to life is risen,
Set free from death's dark prison.
With joyfulness, with joyfulness, your Alleluyas sing,
For Christ has come again to greet the spring.

Green now is on the larches;
Spring-time in triumph marches
And every day uncloses
A host of new primroses:
Then daffodils and Mary-buds let us in garlands bring,
For Christ has come again to greet the spring.

Skylarks, the earth forsaking,
Soar to their music-making,
And in the roof-tree's hollow
Now builds the trusting swallow:
So cries to Him, so flies to Him, my soul on fearless wing,
For Christ has come again to greet the spring.

~Jan Struther

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LOVE at EASTER

Sing to the Lord a new song!
Because the Spring comes newly,
And every slender sapling
Has budded green and red.
Sing to the Lord a new song!
The skylark sings it truly,
Since all in dewy April
His love and he are wed.

Sing to the Lord a new song!
For ever bird's a lover,
And o'er the purple furrows
The green spears nod and wave.
Sing to the Lord a new song!
Since Lenten fasts are over,
And Easter's come in glory,
And Christ has left the grave.

Sing to the Lord a new song!
A song of love and wedding,
For every bird is building
His nest in bower and tree.
Sing to the Lord a new song!
The tufts of soft wool spreading
Where a brown wife and babies
This Easter-tide shall be.

~Katharine Tynan Hinkson

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EASTER

The air is like a butterfly
With frail blue wings.
The happy earth looks at the sky
And sings.

~Joyce Kilmer

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EASTER FLOWERS ARE BLOOMING BRIGHT

Easter flowers are blooming bright,
Easter skies pour radiant light;
Christ our Lord is risen in might,
Glory in the highest.

Angels caroled this sweet day
When in manger rude he lay;
Now once more cast grief away,
Glory in the highest.

He, then born to grief and pain,
Now to glory born again,
Calleth forth our gladdest strain,
Glory in the highest.

As He riseth, rise we too,
Tune we heart and voice anew,
Offering homage glad and true,
Glory in the highest.

~Mary A. Nicholson

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EASTER-TIME

The little flowers came through the ground,
At Easter-time, at Easter-time;
They raised their heads and looked around,
At happy Easter-time.
And every pretty bud did say,
"Good people, bless this holy day;
For Christ is risen, the angels say,
This happy Easter-time."

The scarlet lily raised its cup,
At Easter-time, at Easter-time;
The crocus to the sky looked up,
At happy Easter-time.
"We hear the song of heaven!" they say;
"Its glory shines on us today,
Oh! may it shine on us alway,
At happy Easter-time."

'Twas long and long and long ago,
That Easter-time, that Easter-time;
But still the scarlet lilies blow
At happy Easter-time.
And still each little flower doth say,
"Good Christians, bless this holy day;
For Christ is risen, the angels say,
At blessed Easter-time."

~Laura E. Richards

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EASTER MUSIC JONQUILS

Blow, golden trumpets, sweet and clear,
Blow soft upon the perfumed air;
Bid the sad earth to join your song,
"To Christ does victory belong !"

Oh, let the winds your message bear
To every heart of grief and care;
Sound through the world the joyful lay
"Our Christ has conquered Death today !"

On cloudy wings let glad words fly
Through the soft blue of echoing sky:
Ring out, O trumpets, sweet and clear,
"Through death immortal Life is here !"

~Margaret Deland

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AN EASTER GREETING
[translated from the Russian of Maikow]

The lark at sunrise trills it high---
The greeting Christ is risen!
And through the wood the blackbird pipes
The greeting Christ is risen!
Beneath the eaves the swallows cry
The greeting Christ is risen!
Throughout the world mans' heart proclaims
The greeting Christ is risen!
And echo answers from the grave
In truth, yes, He is risen!

~translated by Martha G. Dickinson Bianchi

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YE HAPPY BELLS of EASTER DAY

Ye happy bells of Easter Day!
Ring! ring! your joy
Thro' earth and sky;
Ye ring a glorious word.
The notes that swell in gladness tell
The rising of the Lord!

Ye carol-bells of Easter Day!
The teeming earth
That saw His birth
When lying 'neath the sward
Upspringeth now in joy, to show
The rising of the Lord!

Ye glory-bells of Easter Day!
The hills that rise
Against the skies
Reecho with the word---
The victor-breath that conquers death---
The rising of the Lord!

Ye victor-bells of Easter Day!
The thorny crown
He layeth down:
Ring! ring! with strong accord---
The mighty strain of love and pain,
The rising of the Lord !

~unknown

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