This morning, I thought back over the years to a time when this holiday was more meaningful to me than it is today, and created this verse:
Sunrise Service
In the crisp bite of early dawn
Roused by the ever loyal mom
To a warm breakfast then driven to a school rendezvous on the way
To play Jesus Christ is Risen Today .
Up and through the dark back road to old Flag Hill above the Saw Mill
We were driven, six chosen musicians to play fanfare
Celebrating the resurrection of long ago as first rays of dawn broke the chill.
After we played our brassy peal of annunciation
The pastor announced simply, “He has risen” and said an invocation,
On the downbeat from our instructor,
We played the joyous hymn and song burst forth
From the tiny band, voices vibrant beyond talent
Took up the simple refrain, “Je US CHRIST has riSEN toDAAY”
With each verse our brass tones played fuller, bolder triumphant
Expanding our chests with pride, courage and steadfast melody.
From crisp wind no longer did we cower.
Sun blaze rose in the east across our town,
Upon the last jubilant coda, the echoes did sound
Descending across the valley below and above to the high tension tower
In somber words the pastor’s message told the story
Of empty tomb, of the incredible happening
And for the rest of the day we who had played
Announcing the news in song and peal of brass
Had recreated that time of myth that has endured in faith
The thought of which renews us still that our time here will not from memory pass.
In the holiday dinner that would follow,
Cousins, aunts and uncles would gather
With the matriarch of the family.
Today we are scattered,
Do not gather together as we did then in harmony
Still I feel the warmth of those Easters past
When those who have departed we think of once more
And how they created a family that would last.
