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| CHRIST said “Mary,” as he walked within the garden | |
| The morning that he rose from death, calm and free of pain; | |
| The wounds in his hands and his side no longer burned him. | |
| He that once had been a man was a God again. | |
| Christ said, “Mary,” as he walked within the garden. | 5 |
| All in his triumphing, back from the dead, | |
| With the wind upon his cheek, while the world was new to him, | |
| “Mary” was the first name he ever said. | |
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| The first Mary God chose, he looked about the world for her | |
| And saw her walking with the maids of Galilee; | 10 |
| —She stood beside a clumsy-nailed cross above a hillside, | |
| And saw the babe on it she had held at her knee.— | |
| Christ praised another Mary whom the saints rebuked for wastefulness; | |
| For he understood them well, all Marys of his day, | |
| Yes, and of today, too, Marys staid and caring, | 15 |
| Marys wild and home-loving—it was his way. | |
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| Martha and Lazarus talked with Christ at supper-time, | |
| Martha and Lazarus, of crops and folk and wars; | |
| But while the food was cleared away, low by the doorstep | |
| It was Mary spoke to him, when there were stars. | 20 |
| Not of crops and gossip, not of work and neighbors— | |
| Christ and Mary talked about the wishing to be good | |
| And the easy falling, and the new beginnings, | |
| And the way the moon looked, low above the wood. | |
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| Christ said, “Mary,” as he walked within the garden; | 25 |
| Startled, Mary Magdalene raised her tear-stained face. | |
| That was very long ago, in a far-off country, | |
| In a far-off country, and a foreign place. | |
| Still each year at Easter-time do we think again of her, | |
| And the other Marys who. are dead in the earth, | 30 |
| Who are dead long ago, but who loved and tended him | |
| When our Lord was a man, and felt of tears and mirth. | |
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| All the Marys of the world, let us pray together now, | |
| Mary Schwartz, and Mary Brown, and Mary Rosenstein, | |
| Little Mary Donnelly, Mary Holt and Mary Hull, | 35 |
| Mary Olsen, Mary Morse, all in a line. | |
| Since it is the Easter-time, and little bells are ringing, | |
| Let us walk in still pride, with lifting of the head, | |
| For when he had risen from the grave, as all the world knows, | |
“Mary” was the first name that God ever said.
Contemporary Verse | 40 |
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