The Tomb.
With a finality beyond death, burial removes all trace of existence. Not enough you walked this earth, but you had to be consumed by it – embedded, implanted, sown in this fertile ground.
The Stone.
Heavy with our morbid fear and sealed with all the arrogance of a fallen humanity, it plays its lonely part.
The Garden.
Undisturbed peace. Mankind’s first (and last) resting place. Here, in the arboreal stillness, as leaves respire and sap cools, Nature, sublimely conscious of the Divine, waits, with expectant patience for its most glorious bud to flower.
The Dawn.
Never since its first creation has the sun appeared with greater humility. On this Day a broken body lives again and holy blood pulses triumphantly through once emptied veins. The Son of God rises to still enclosed darkness and the Stone is rolled away. The Shutter opens for a greater Light to shine.
This final barrier does not and cannot resist the truth of Resurrection. Might and meaning; rite and religion; sight and science ... lose their dominance, though not as gladly as the morning star.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Gardener steps into his bower and is welcomed. Creation beams with joy at the presence of perfect Spring and faithful stems bend in the Spirit’s gentle breeze.
At last, a saddened and subdued humanity approaches, still clothed in unredeemable fear. Woman, first cursed by the Fall, is now First Blessed in this Garden as she walks and talks with her God again ... with great joy, she runs to man with the most favoured fruit of everlasting life … disrobed of fear, innocence is no longer ashamed ...
… and, beneath the displaced Stone lies the bruised and bloodied form of a dying serpent …
© 2011 Graham Oakes.
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