Christ said “Mary,” as he walked within the garden | |
The morning that he rose from death, calm and free of pain; | |
The wounds in his hands and his side no longer burned him. | |
He that once had been a man was a God again. | |
Christ said, “Mary,” as he walked within the garden. | |
All in his triumphing, back from the dead, | |
With the wind upon his cheek, while the world was new to him, | |
“Mary” was the first name he ever said. | |
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The first Mary God chose, he looked about the world for her | |
And saw her walking with the maids of Galilee; | |
—She stood beside a clumsy-nailed cross above a hillside, | |
And saw the babe on it she had held at her knee.— | |
Christ praised another Mary whom the saints rebuked for wastefulness; | |
For he understood them well, all Marys of his day, | |
Yes, and of today, too, Marys staid and caring, | |
Marys wild and home-loving—it was his way. | |
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Martha and Lazarus talked with Christ at supper-time, | |
Martha and Lazarus, of crops and folk and wars; | |
But while the food was cleared away, low by the doorstep | |
It was Mary spoke to him, when there were stars. | |
Not of crops and gossip, not of work and neighbors— | |
Christ and Mary talked about the wishing to be good | |
And the easy falling, and the new beginnings, | |
And the way the moon looked, low above the wood. | |
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Christ said, “Mary,” as he walked within the garden; | |
Startled, Mary Magdalene raised her tear-stained face. | |
That was very long ago, in a far-off country, | |
In a far-off country, and a foreign place. | |
Still each year at Easter-time do we think again of her, | |
And the other Marys who. are dead in the earth, | |
Who are dead long ago, but who loved and tended him | |
When our Lord was a man, and felt of tears and mirth. | |
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All the Marys of the world, let us pray together now, | |
Mary Schwartz, and Mary Brown, and Mary Rosenstein, | |
Little Mary Donnelly, Mary Holt and Mary Hull, | |
Mary Olsen, Mary Morse, all in a line. | |
Since it is the Easter-time, and little bells are ringing, | |
Let us walk in still pride, with lifting of the head, | |
For when he had risen from the grave, as all the world knows, | |
“Mary” was the first name that God ever said. |