Holy Saturday

Christina Rossetti wrote two poems call Easter Even (which is Holy Saturday). This is one of them. It’s rather curious, and makes you ponder what may have been happening in the heavenly realms during that quiet Saturday (though that we are not told ...).

Easter Even

The tempest over and gone, the calm begun,

   Lo, “it is finished” and the Strong Man sleeps:

All stars keep vigil watching for the sun,

   The moon her vigil keeps.

A garden full of silence and of dew

   Beside a virgin cave and entrance stone:

Surely a garden full of Angels too,

   Wondering, on watch, alone.

They who cry “Holy, Holy, Holy,” still

   Veiling their faces round God’s Throne above,

May well keep vigil on this heavenly hill

   And cry their cry of love,

Adoring God in His new mystery

   Of love more deep than hell, more strong than death;

Until the day break and the shadows flee,

   The Shaking and the Breath.

~Christina Rossetti