The Lord Is Risen!

by Emily J. Gingrich

I wish I could have been there
To hear the heart-stopping sound
Of stone on stone,
Victorious grinding.
One invisible Hand
Rolled back what
Two men would have strained under
The way you might roll a dime
With one finger,
And crushed Death, helpless, beneath.
Earth herself felt Heaven’s nearness,
And shook with joy
Three days suppressed.

I wish I could have been there
To see surly soldiers
Fall like windblown feathers
Or toppled trees—
Trembling proof of humanity’s extreme smallness.

I wish I could have been Mary,
To feel her heart put its head down and run
When she heard her name and turned . . .
When logic screamed “Impossible!”
But hope grew anyway—
Tentative, then unfolding
Like a lily . . .
When, believing, she floundered, floated
In a flood of joy
To know that the Lord is risen.

I could not be her.
I could not be there.

But He can be here!
For death is dead
And all life can live—
Even my life—
This Easter morning.

Emily Gingrich is a young lady from Ontario who loves writing, music, blue lakes, windblown pines, and roaming in God’s great outdoors.

Photography by Kenneth Godoy