As promised, one more gem from the 1878 book by Fr. Osgood Fuller
The Life of Christ in Song: Advent and Christmas TimeThe words lay nearly perfectly with the Byzantine Tone 3 melody used for the Third Stasis of the Lamentations.
Easter Even
Fr. Osgood Fuller 1878
Oh the mourning for the fair!
Oh the sorrow and despair!
Resting, resting, everywhere.
On the face of man and beast
In the west and in the east;
From the greatest to the least:
On angelic countenance,
Where the shadows’s swift advance
Veils ethereal radiance;
On whate’er we can rehearse
Of the better or the worse
In the boundless universe.
Oh the wonders and the signs!
Lo! The sun no longer shines
When the Christ His life resigns.
And the darkness over all,
Gathered as a mourning pall,
Deepest in the heart doth fall--
In the hearts of us His choice,
Where His all-controlling voice
Was the signal to rejoice.
Dead! dead! O Eternal One!
Why forsaken was Thy Son?
Why that deed of horror done?
Ever strong to save from harm,
Where was Thine almighty arm
In that day of dread alarm?
Oh the prison of the tomb!
Oh the low and silent room!
Oh the mystery and gloom!
With the Master gone the hope
With the enemy to cope,
And we in the midnight grope.
With the sweet, inspiring grace
Of a more than human face,
Banished thought of nobler place.
Perished Israel’s strength and stay,
And the dream of that bright day
Which should take our shame away.
In the ashes doth expire
That celestial, holy fire
Which did flame in Judah’s lyre:
And the prophet tongue of might,
Which was fearless for the right;
Silent, silent is as night.
God who once His arm made bare,
In the hour of our despair
Hath withdrawn His loving care;
And destruction looketh down
With a sad and sullen frown,
On a soiled and trampled crown.
Oh the mourning for the fair!
Oh the shadows everywhere!
Oh the burden of despair!
In the country of our birth
Nothing now remains of worth--
Hide us, Oh thou Mother Earth!
Hide us from the scorner’s scorn,
In the night that knows no morn
Make us as if never born!
II
One swift year has passed away
Since the dark despairing day
In the tomb the Master lay.
Fools were we, and slow of heart;
God from man doth stand apart
When He would great truths impart.
Out of darkness bring He light,
Out of weakness cometh might,
Out of sorrow spring delight.
From the prison of the tomb
Cometh life, as from the womb,
And we dread no more its gloom.
Christ the Lord, who as to-day,
In the gloom and darkness lay,
As to-morrow, took His way.
In among the ranks of men,
And we say the mortal ken
Him who with us once had been:
And the brightness of His face
Beaming with immortal grace,
All our sorrows did efface.
Oh the glory of the Cross!
Gold is that we reckoned dross,
Gain is that we counted loss.
Now the kingdom of our sires,
Built on holiest desires,
Lighted with undying fires,
To a sovereign place aspires.
And with Christ upon its throne,
All its glories shall be known
Till the world its sway shall own.
‘Thus He turnest wrath to praise
And the mourners’ hearts doth raise
And appoint them joyful days.
By a way we do not know
Both he lead us here below,
And His wondrous treasures show.
True and everlasting Guide,
For His own He doth provide,
And the deepest gloom divide.
Leading on the way He went
Till our lives on earth are spent,
And we pass the firmament.
