Weekend Writing: Poems About Easter

Easter is a joyous holiday marked by a season of renewal, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, colorful Easter eggs, delicious spring food, and spending time with loved ones. Unfortunately, with the COVID-19 pandemic, this year's Easter holiday is going to be celebrated differently. Church services will be online. Family members won't be able to meet.

While the holiday might be different, the reason for the holiday isn't changing at all. Jesus still died for our sins and He was resurrected. John 11:25-26 says, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die." Jesus died for us so we can be forever saved.

No matter what is going on in the world right now, Jesus' sacrifice is the reason for our celebration.

This post is honoring Easter and this cheerful season by sharing some beautiful poems about Easter. Share these encouraging poems with your loved ones, especially since you can't spend time with them in person. Share these words with them and let them know the beauty of this holiday.

1. "Good Friday" - Christina Rossetti

Am I a stone, and not a sheep,
That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross,
To number drop by drop Thy blood's slow loss,
And yet not weep?

Not so those women loved
Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee;
Not so fallen Peter, weeping bitterly;
Not so the thief was moved;

Not so the Sun and Moon
Which hid their faces in a starless sky,
A horror of great darkness at broad noon--
I, only I.

Yet give not o'er,
But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock;
Greater than Moses, turn and look once more
And smite a rock.

2. "The Easter Flower" - Claude McKay 

Far from this foreign Easter damp and chilly
My soul steals to a pear-shaped plot of ground,
Where gleamed the lilac-tinted Easter lily
Soft-scented in the air for yards around;

Alone, without a hint of guardian leaf! 
Just like a fragile bell of silver rime,
It burst the tomb for freedom sweet and brief
In the young pregnant year at Eastertime;

And many thought it was a sacred sign,
And some called it the resurrection flower;
And I, a pagan, worshipped at its shrine,
Yielding my heart unto its perfumed power.

3. "Easter" - Edmund Spenser 

Most glorious Lord of Lyfe! that, on this day,
Didst make Thy triumph over death and sin; 
And, having harrowd hell, didst bring away
Captivity thence captive, us to win: 
This joyous day, deare Lord, with joy begin;
And grant that we, for whom thou diddest dye, 
Being with Thy deare blood clene washt from sin, 
May live for ever in felicity! 

And that Thy love we weighing worthily,
May likewise love Thee for the same againe; 
And for Thy sake, that all lyke deare didst buy, 
With love may one another entertayne! 
    So let us love, deare Love, lyke as we ought,
   --Love is the lesson which the Lord us taught. 

4. "An Easter Wish" - John L. Sarna 

May the sun rise early and be bright
on this Easter holy day...
For the Lord has subdued the night
and saved us from death's decay.

This day is filled with gladness
our Christ has risen from His earthy tomb
All creatures rejoice in sheer happiness...
we now have hope where there once was gloom. 

5. "I Feel It in the Air" - Edna Reed 

I know it's Easter time again,
I feel it in the air.
The breath of spring with woodsy tang,
And new life everywhere. 
And spring glides on with magic touch
O'er mountainside and glen;
And wakens all the sleeping plants
For Easter time again. 

The booklets leap from rock to rock,
As if in joyful play;
The flowers peep from darkened tombs
To welcome Easter Day.
The birds are swinging on the boughs,
And trill in ecstasy; 
They seem to show the world's great joy
Of Easter mystery. 

Why should we dread
The thing called death? 
It's just an open door,
Where all within is love and peace
And joy forevermore.
"Because I live, you too shall live," 
We hear the Savior say.
Let's consecrate our lives anew,
On this glad Easter Day.

---

I'll keep it simple: Happy Easter! Have a lovely holiday rejoicing what Jesus did for us. Easter often feels like the official "kick-off" to the spring season. It's a beautiful season, and we need a season of rebirth now more than ever before. Embrace this season.

-KJL-