The Risen One

"Why sit ye still, and sigh and mourn?"
Say the young unto the old
"Life is more than filth and dirt,
Love is long and life is short,
What time have we to mourn our hurt
Beneath the giddy sky?"

"Yes love is long." The old reply
"We know too well that life is short;
The loved will die, then pain and hurt
To thee will come--Then wilt thou cry.
Youth is mad for all will die,
In death all ends, in this Love lies."

"We know you wrong, not all will end
In flame and ash when earth is rent
And vision snatched out of our eyes;
Then will our souls leave garments frail
And mount the sky to Him we hail
For Love our Lord hath come to earth
And victory sure he's won from death.

"A fairy tale," the old reply,
"A mindless yarn of witless wives,
For in death we end, we cease, desist.
For who has passed death's gloomy doors,
And still doth speak the tale to tell?
If any do, he we'll believe
and take his tale as proof indeed.

"Our proof is Truth, him we believe
In Truth we live, by Truth we're freed
And Truth gives us no cause to need."

"Truth is gone, we saw him die
On Calvary's hill lifted high
For all to see and there he died;
Experience is our only guide."

"We know he lives, we saw him rise,
We've seen him eat, have touched his side;
And now he lives no more to die.
In Him we trust, in Him we live,
He holds our hearts and gives us breath;
By him is conquered sin and death."