I know it’s the day after Easter, but perhaps that’s the best day for an Easter post. After all, we are to celebrate our Lord’s resurrection not just once a year, but every day. This weekend Gene Veith at WorldMagblog.com linked to George Herbert’s poem, Easter Wings. Veith, the author of the now-out-of-print book Reformation Spirituality: The Religion of George Herbert, wrote: “Notice not just the shape, but how the lines ‘decay’ as they describe first all of humanity and then the individual speaker degenerating because of sin. Then note how Christ meets both at their lowest point. And how Christ’s resurrection allows humanity and the suffering individual to soar.” For those who, like me, are not poetically inclined, it may help to read it aloud and to read it more than once.
Easter Wings
by George Herbert
Lord, Who createdst man in wealth and store,
Though foolishly he lost the same,
Decaying more and more,
Till he became
Most poore:
With Thee
O let me rise,
As larks, harmoniously,
And sing this day Thy victories:
Then shall the fall further the flight in me.
My tender age in sorrow did beginne;
And still with sicknesses and shame
Thou didst so punish sinne,
That I became
Most thinne.
With Thee
Let me combine,
And feel this day Thy victorie;
For, if I imp my wing on Thine,
Affliction shall advance the flight in me.
