What does Easter mean to you?
Stately church with cushioned pew,
Where, Lenten season gone at last
And days of self-denial past,
Richly clad, devoted throngs
Of worshipers unite in songs
Of praise in lily-scented air?
Is this what makes your Easter fair?

Does it mean the end of winter's reign,
Bright skies and welcome wamth again,
Singing of birds, budding of trees,
Sweet spring odors on the breeze
From daffodil and crocus bed
And balsam branches overhead?
Sad is the world and cold and gray,
If this is all of Easter Day.

But if this blessed season brings
A firmer faith in holy things,
Assurance of a living Lord,
A strengthening of the living chord
Of love that binds us to the life to come
Where loved ones wait us in the heavenly home,
No pain or loss can e'er efface the bliss,
Dear Friend, of Easter when it means all this.

- May Ricker Conrad -