Easter

Break the box and shed the nard*;
Stop not now to count the cost;
Hither bring pearl, opal, sard;
Reck not what the poor have lost;
Upon Christ throw all away:
Know ye, this is Easter Day.

Gather gladness from the skies;
Take a lesson from the ground;
Flowers do ope their heavenward eyes
And a Spring-time joy have found;
Earth throws Winter's robes away,
Decks herself for Easter Day.

Seek God's house in happy throng;
Crowded let His table be;
Mingle praises, payer and song,
Singing to the Trinity.
Henceforth let your souls alway
Make each morn an Easter Day.
---Gerard Manley Hopkins

*the woman in the Gospels who anointed Jesus's feet with expensive perfume

Queen Creek near Globe, AZ

Crossing the Bar*

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar*,
When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home**.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell;
When I embark;

For thou' from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far**;
I hope to see my Pilot*** face to face
When I have crossed the bar.*
---Alfred, Lord Tennyson

*Sandbar; when a ship leaves the deep water to go towards shore, it can actually be hazardous and perilous
**After a long-life's journey, some of which may unfortunately have taken us further away from God at times, the Christian longs to "go home to God"
***A nautical pilot guides water craft safely through harbors and to shore; Jesus is that pilot

The World is Too Much with Us

[Technically, the poet doesn't write this one in a Christian vein. He even borrows pagan mythology. But Wordsworth was Christian, and this is a great commentary on modern materialism.]

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
The sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune,
It moves us not. ---Great God! I'd rather be
A pagan suckled in a creed outworn.
So might I , standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn."
William Wordsworth

Clouds & Scripture

"See, [Jesus] comes with the clouds,
And every eye shall see Him,
even as many as pierced Him;
And all the tribes of the earth shall mourn." (Revelation 1:7)
"See, He will advance like the clouds,
And His chariots like a whirlwind,
His horses are swifter than eagles.
Woe to us, for we are plundered!" (Jeremiah 4:13)
"You have clothed Yourself with a cloud
So that prayer cannot get through." (Lamentations 3:44)
"'I [God] have swept away as a cumulus cloud your offenses
And as a cloud your sins.
Return to Me,
For I have redeemed you.'" (Isaiah 44:22)
---original translations

The Spirit & Nature in Scripture

"By the word of Yahweh were the heavens made,
And all their hosts by the Spirit of His mouth." (Psalm 33:6)
"You send forth Your Spirit, they are created;
And You renew the face of the earth." (Ps. 104:30)
-----original translations

Fairest Lord Jesus

Fair are the meadows,
Fair are the woodlands,
Robed in flow'rs of blooming spring;
Jesus is fairer;
Jesus is purer;
He makes our sorr'wing spirits sing.
---ancient hymn text

Mountains in Scripture

"I will lift up my eyes unto the hills
From whence comes my help." (Psalm 121:1)
"Great is Yahweh
And greatly to be praised
In the city of our God,
The mountain of His holiness." (Ps. 48:1)
"In [His] hands are the depths of the earth;
And the height of the hills are His." (Ps. 95:4)
---original translations