The Lord is Risen! He is risen indeed Alleluia!
Heres is an extra ‘fifteenth’ sonnet for Easter Morning, which I dedicate to my friend Mary who asked me to write it, and to the memory of her husband Gavin. May he rest in peace and rise in glory.
Later today I will publish another Easter poem, but this completes the sonnet series I have been posting throughout Holy Week.
This sonnet, and the others I have been posting for Holy Week are all drawn from my collection Sounding the Seasons, published by Canterbury Press here in England. The book is now back in stock on both Amazon UK and USA and physical copies are shortly to be available in Canada via Steve Bell‘s Signpost Music. The book is now also out on Kindle. Please feel free to make use of these sonnets in church services and to copy and share them. If you can mention the book from which they are taken that would be great.
I am grateful to Oliver Neale for permission to use the image above. as always you can hear the sonnet by clicking on the ‘play’ button or on the title.
XV Easter Dawn
He blesses every love which weeps and grieves
And now he blesses hers who stood and wept
And would not be consoled, or leave her love’s
Last touching place, but watched as low light crept
Up from the east. A sound behind her stirs
A scatter of bright birdsong through the air.
She turns, but cannot focus through her tears,
Or recognise the Gardener standing there.
She hardly hears his gentle question ‘Why,
Why are you weeping?’, or sees the play of light
That brightens as she chokes out her reply
‘They took my love away, my day is night’
And then she hears her name, she hears Love say
The Word that turns her night, and ours, to Day.
Malcolm Guite 
Wishing you a very happy Easter, Malcolm, from Binsey where my Psalm 23 garden is in full bloom and where we began our 7am Eucharist service. May the blessings of our risen Lord surround you and yours, Jackie ( Holderness) Oxford ( St Katherine’s Advent retreat and author of The princess who hid in a tree, which may provide some context)
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Thanks. And a happy Easter to you!
So beautiful. For those of us who grieve.. thank you
Indeed He is truly risen. Thank you Father Malcolm, for completing the phrase May he rest in peace, I didn’t know the ‘second part’ and it makes all the difference doesn’t it. Blessed Easter tide, to you. Suzanne Suzanne Langlois Mooney, CMC “For what has been, thanks. For all that shall be, yes”.Daj Hammerskjöld
Happy Easter, Malcolm!
She hears love say… what a beautiful sonnet, Malcolm! Happy Easter!
Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful.
Thank you, so much, Malcolm. Your sonnets have been the source of my reflection during Holy Week and I so appreciate the way they help me to experience again the wonder and mystery of the Cross. Thank yo for reading them for us as well. I have very much benefited from reading them first myself, and then listening to you read them. Your inflections help me to see new layers of meaning and wonder. I did make a handout – that you so much for giving us permission to do so. I look forward to sharing it with women who join me for a contemplative retreat at a Catholic retreat center where we have the opportunity to reflect in a garden with statues of the Stations of the Cross and then go to the grotto and reflect on the empty tomb and the risen Christ. Thank you.
Glad they’ve been so helpful
I really like the imagery and sound patterns in this one, and how they amplify the meaning.
Thanks
Thanks. That link between sound and sense is very much what I’m aiming for