The Easter Even poems of Christina Rossetti

Let us keep on with Christina Rossetti's Easter poems. The two below are from her Verses, though once again she has also written another Easter Even poem that you can read here. The first below is a strange piece, but I like the last verse in particular.

Easter present to myself from the Handmade shop, made by RJ Crosses.

A Bundle of Myrrh Is My Well-Beloved unto Me

~ by Christina Georgina Rossetti

Thy Cross cruciferous doth flower in all

   And every cross, dear Lord, assigned to us:

Ours lowly-statured crosses; Thine how tall,

   Thy Cross cruciferous.

   Thy Cross alone life-giving, glorious:

For love of Thine, souls love their own when small,

   Easy and light, or great and ponderous.

Since deep calls deep, Lord, hearken when we call;

   When cross calls Cross racking and emulous:—

Remember us with him who shared Thy gall,

   Thy Cross cruciferous.

EASTER EVEN

~ by Christina Georgina Rossetti

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.