A long time ago and in a land far away,
Yet so near and seen afresh in faith each day,
Set first in the intersection of the great cultures,
Where civilizations meet and trade and merge,
In that rebellious backwater territory of old Rome,
Surrounded by crowds yet so abandoned and alone
There died a Man nailed upon a wooded board,
Mocked and torture by that ancient horde.
When Roman military power seemed near its peak,
And Greek philosophy had nothing left to seek,
When Old Law was not enough to prevent death,
An oppressed people waited with baited breath,
Civilization seemed to be approaching its zenith,
Yet for all his learning and power man still sinneth,
Neither pagan superstition nor learned philosophy,
Could stop the world’s decadence and ultimate atrophy,
A mighty empire with her long-tired subjects
Could not a step more advance under their current pax.
The Western world was but a modern Babel,
Outwards sprawling rather than upward built;
And in the East were darkened men with greedy eyes,
But only another empire did they desire as a prize,
The regions to the south or across the wide seas,
The world yet unfound by the Romans, barbarian, or Chinese
These new or untamed lands lay in a darkened state,
Though undiscovered, they shared the Old World’s fate.
To the disappointment of many and the cheer of a few,
Into a tomb was laid a body which life once knew,
And was sealed by a great stone—its name finality—
Guarded by a detachment of soldiers—a simple formality—
A cold darkness hung upon the whole earth,
As the body was embalmed by frankincense and myrrh,
Some women in tears approached that forlorn cave,
Which served as their dead Lord’s temporary grave,
Soon to spy a scene of both wonderment and fear,
The tomb was empty save the angelic man who beckoned them near:
The first message which would soon across the world spread:
That Christ Whom they so loved was now risen from the dead.