Poems (Kimball)/An Easter Incident
AN EASTER INCIDENT.
IN moonlight the world was sleeping, As it slept on that night of old When the wonderful angel descended And the stone from the sepulchre rolled;The vigil of Easter was ended, The hour of midnight tolled.
In one of the countless chambers Where slumber held its sway, Dreaming perhaps of Easter A tranquil sleeper lay, When the whisper of wings beside her Wafted her dreams away.
Is it a bird? she wondered, Lifting her startled head As she heard the delicate flitting Circle around her bed, And anon against the casement The sweep of those wings outspread.
It was not the palpitant flutter Of some poor terrified thing That beateth the bars of its prison, And bruiseth its tender wing, But an eager, exultant motion, Glad as the pulse of spring.
The flash of a thought, and the listener Had lighted her lamp anew, And wide on the shadowy chamber Its fullest radiance threw; When straightway toward its shining The beautiful visitant flew.
A moth, a marvel of measure From tip to tip of its wings, Painted in colors resplendent— Lightest and fairest of things; Type of the Resurrection, The angel's own message it brings!
Did the angel himself, descending And passing through hamlet and town To waken once more the faithful, Their sorrow with joy to crown, Touch with finger transcendent That tiniest cradle brown?
There lay the chrysalis empty, Frail shell of the past, outworn; Here was the living creature Exulting in beauty new-born, And trembling as if to utter The truth of the Easter morn!