O Voice of the Beloved! Thy Bride hath heard Thee say, -- "Rise up, My love, My fair one, Arise & come away. For lo, 'tis past, the winter, The winter of thy year; The rain is past & over, The flowers on earth appear.
"And now the time of singing Is come for every bird; And over all the country The turtle dove is heard: The fig her green fruit ripens, The vines are in their bloom; Arise & smell their fragrance, My love, My fair one, come!"
Yea, Lord! Thy Passion over, We know this life of ours Hath pass'd from death & winter To leaves & budding flowers: No more Thy rain of weeping In drear Gethsemane; No more the clouds & darkness, That veil'd Thy bitter Tree.
Our Easter Sun is risen! And yet we slumber long, And need Thy Dove's sweeet pleading To waken prayer & song. Oh breathe upon our deadness, Oh shine upon our gloom; Lord, let us feel Thy Presence, And rise & live & bloom.
--J. Mason in "Hymns, Ancient & Modern", published by William Clowes, 1924.
