Nature’s Alleluia

Alleluia! Christ is ris’n to­day

From the tomb in the gar­den where­in He lay;

Shining an­gels raise their shout on high

And on earth we ex­ult­ing­ly make re­ply:

Alleluia

al­le­luia

al­le­luia

amen.

Nature

too

that thro’ long drea­ry gloom

Lay em­balmed in the shroud of her win­try tomb

Rises now to meet her ris­ing Lord

And in my­ri­ad ec­ho re­peats the word:

Alleluia

al­le­luia

Alleluia

amen.

See the stream­let burst its icy chain!

Leaping out in­to sun­light

it seeks the plain

And its joy in li­quid tones it tells

To the rocks and the woods and the wind­ing dells:

Alleluia

al­le­luia

al­le­luia

amen.

Giant pines

whose broad

up­reach­ing arms

Bore the frosts and the snows of the north­ern storms

To the bal­my breez­es blow­ing now

Give a mur­mur­ing whis­per on ev­ery bough.

Little birds

that flew so far away

Now re­turn with a sweet

mer­ry

roun­de­lay;

Through the sha­dy grove

in soft re­frain

Lo

the voice of the tur­tle is heard again.

Alleluia

al­le­luia

al­le­luia

amen.

In the old church tow­er the swal­lows build

And their nests with the ten­der­est young are filled;

And they join the chant­ing when they hear

Both the or­gan and choir swell­ing loud and clear:

Now the prim­rose greets the daf­fo­dil

And the dai­sy is wink­ing on ev­ery hill

And the pan­sy drinks the light of day

And the breath of the vio­let seems to say:

Alleluia

al­le­luia

al­le­luia

amen.

Now the Rose of Sha­ron op­ens wide

On the sun­shiny banks of the mount­ain side;

And the li­ly of the val­ley blooms

Filling ev­ery vale with its rich per­fumes:

While the fields are clothed in beau­ty rare

Shall the al­tar of Je­su be cold and bare?

Shall the Church no lov­ing to­ken show

That the Ris­en ab­ove is to rise be­low?

Alleluia

al­le­luia

al­le­luia

amen.

Round the al­tar let bright flow’rs be seen

With the fresh-bud­ding branch­es of ev­er­green;

Let the earth

with us

her in­cense bring

And the trees of the for­est re­joice and sing: