Poems (Kimball)/An Easter Incident

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4472462Poems — An Easter IncidentHarriet McEwen Kimball
AN EASTER INCIDENT.
IN moonlight the world was sleeping,
As it slept on that night of old
When the wonderful angel descended
And the stone from the sepulchre rolled;
The vigil of Easter was ended,
The hour of midnight tolled.

In one of the countless chambers
Where slumber held its sway,
Dreaming perhaps of Easter
A tranquil sleeper lay,
When the whisper of wings beside her
Wafted her dreams away.

Is it a bird? she wondered,
Lifting her startled head
As she heard the delicate flitting
Circle around her bed,
And anon against the casement
The sweep of those wings outspread.

It was not the palpitant flutter
Of some poor terrified thing
That beateth the bars of its prison,
And bruiseth its tender wing,
But an eager, exultant motion,
Glad as the pulse of spring.

The flash of a thought, and the listener
Had lighted her lamp anew,
And wide on the shadowy chamber
Its fullest radiance threw;
When straightway toward its shining
The beautiful visitant flew.

A moth, a marvel of measure
From tip to tip of its wings,
Painted in colors resplendent—
Lightest and fairest of things;
Type of the Resurrection,
The angel's own message it brings!

Did the angel himself, descending
And passing through hamlet and town
To waken once more the faithful,
Their sorrow with joy to crown,
Touch with finger transcendent
That tiniest cradle brown?

There lay the chrysalis empty,
Frail shell of the past, outworn;
Here was the living creature
Exulting in beauty new-born,
And trembling as if to utter
The truth of the Easter morn!