Easter Offering Poem by George Hannibal Temple

From sylvan glades and meadows green,
From shady haunts and rustic bowers,
With fragrance sweet and pious mien,
They come - the lovely Easter flowers;
Libations pure of sacred dew they bring,
To tender for an Easter offering.


Lo, at the holy shrine, behold
The hyacinth and saffron crocus,
The daffodil with tints of gold,
The jonquil and the clustering lotus!
The bow that spans the azure arch above,
Reflects but these - God's messengers of love.


Loud let the Easter anthem strain
Mark time in soul-rejoicing measure!
Sweet let the organ weave a chain
Of chords harmonious, linked at pleasure!
For Christ our Lord has risen from the tomb,
And Nature greets Him flushed in vernal bloom.


Rejoice, ye birds of passage, sing!
Sing notes of offering morn and even,
Make resonant the air of spring;
With modulation sweet, to heaven
Send grateful up a rapturous roundelay,
For Christ our Saviour rose on Easter Day.