Seven Stanzas at Easter

by John Updike

Make no mistake: if he rose at all
It was as His body;
If the cell's dissolution did not reverse, the molecule reknit,
The amino acids rekindle,
The Church will fall.

It was not as the flowers,
Each soft spring recurrent;
It was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the
Eleven apostles;
It was as His flesh; ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes
The same valved heart
That-pierced-died, withered, paused, and then regathered
Out of enduring Might
New strength to enclose.

Let us not mock God with metaphor,
Analogy, sidestepping, transcendence,
Making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the faded
Credulity of earlier ages:
Let us walk through the door.

The stone is rolled back, not papier-mache,
Not a stone in a story,
But the vast rock of materiality that in the slow grinding of
Time will eclipse for each of us
The wide light of day.

And if we have an angel at the tomb,
Make it a real angel,
Weighty with Max Planck's quanta, vivid with hair, opaque in
The dawn light, robed in real linen
Spun on a definite loom.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
For our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
Lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are embarrassed
By the miracle,
And crushed by remonstrance.

There Is a Fountain

by William Cowper

There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Emmanuel's veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there have I, though vile as he
Washed all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood
Shall never lose its power
Till all the ransomed church of God
Be saved, to sin no more.

E'er since, by faith, I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme
And shall be till I die.

Then in a nobler, sweeter song
I'll sing Thy power to save,
When this poor lisping, stammering tongue
Lies silent in the grave.

Lord, I believe Thou hast prepared,
Unworthy though I be,
For me a blood-bought free reward,
A golden harp for me!

'Tis strung and tuned for endless years
And formed by power divine,
To sound in God the Father's ears
No other name but Thine.

You Never Need Nobody

by Zach Williams

You could break a heart in your sleep
The way you move makes a grown man weep
They all line up at your door
Saying, 'Please, please, I can't take no more'

You never need nobody
You've never been alone
And I try to get your affection
But all I ever do is wrong

You could calm a storm with your tone
The way you sing makes the mockingbird hum
The grass you walk on gives way
Saying, 'Please, please, come back this way'

Give me your hottest fever
Loudest scream in the crowd
All of these good times can't change
The way I feel 'bout you now

Now I know you got that smile
The way it shines can drive a man half-wild
I won't dance around this no more
I'm the only one you should smile for

Spring Is Here

by Lorenz Hart

Once there was a thing called Spring
When the world was writing
Verses like yours and mine
All the boys and girls would sing
As we sat at little tables and drank May wine
Now April, May, and June
Seem sadly out of tune
Life has stuck a pin in the balloon

Spring is here
Why doesn't my heart go dancing?
Spring is here
Why isn't the waltz entrancing?
No desire, no ambition leads me
Maybe it's because nobody needs me

Spring is here
Why doesn't the breeze delight me?
Stars appear
Why doesn't the night invite me?
Maybe it's because nobody loves me

Spring is here, I hear

P2 Vatican Blues

by George Harrison

Gazed at the ceiling from below
A splendid Michelangelo
Filled my heart with delight
Last Saturday night

Arrived believing from home
Climbed every step inside St. Peter's Dome
Claustrophobic and ex-Catholic
Last Saturday night

Now how come nobody really noticed
Puff of white smoke knocked me out?
The truth is hiding, lurking, banking
Things I do at night

It's quite suspicious to say the least
Even mentioned it to my local priest
One 'Our Father', three 'Hail Mary's
Each Saturday Night

I wish somebody would tell me
That it's only a show
I'll confess, own up, let's face it
In my concrete tuxedo

It's quite suspicious to say the least
While mentioning it to my priest
One 'Our Father', three 'Hail Mary's
Each Saturday night

Here Comes the Sun

by George Harrison

Little darling
It's been a long, cold, lonely winter
Little darling
It feels like years since it's been here

Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun
And I say
It's all right

Little darling
The smiles returning to the faces
Little darling
It seems like years since it's been here

Sun, sun, sun
Here it comes
Sun, sun, sun
Here it comes

Little darling
I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling
It seems like years since it's been clear

Dire Wolf

by Robert Hunter

In the timbers of Fennario
the wolves are running 'round
The winter was so hard and cold
froze ten feet 'neath the ground

Don't murder me
I beg of you don't murder me
Please
don't murder me

I sat down to my supper
'Twas a bottle of red whiskey
I said my prayers and went to bed
That's the last they saw of me

Don't murder me
I beg of you don't murder me
Please
don't murder me

When I awoke, the Dire Wolf
Six hundred pounds of sin
Was grinnin at my window
All I said was "Come on in"

Don't murder me
I beg of you don't murder me
Please
don't murder me

The wolf came in, I got my cards
We sat down for a game
I cut my deck to the queen of spades
but the cards were all the same

Don't murder me
I beg of you don't murder me
Please
don't murder me

In the backwash of Fennario
The black and bloody mire
The Dire Wolf collects his due
while the boys sing round the fire

Don't murder me
I beg of you don't murder me
Please
don't murder me