There’s a beautiful old Easter hymn called ‘Now the Green Blade Riseth’, which parallels the resurrection of Jesus with the bursting forth of new life in the spring. However, I’ve always felt that its plaintive minor tones would be better suited to an autumn song, and this autumn—perhaps influenced by the hidden nature of COVID-19 isolation—words for it started to sing themselves in my brain. Their emphasis on seasons and the dormant fruitfulness of the earth led me to highlight Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, grain and mother love.
(The traditional melody used for ‘Now the Green Blade Riseth’ is a 15th Century French Christmas carol tune called ‘Noël Nouvelet’. At the foot of the page there’s a link to a choir singing it, in case you don’t know the melody.)
.
Sure the wheel is turning, new year follows old;
Summer’s warmth has faded, days are growing cold;
Love will remain, through death and change unseen;
Life will come again, when Ceres springs up green.
As the winter beckons, darkness closes in;
In the hidden hollows, slumber will begin;
Deep in the earth, its pow’r as yet unseen,
Life will come again, when Ceres springs up green.
When the ice has melted, ending winter’s reign,
Warming rays will call us back to life again,
Rousing our souls that dead and bare have been—
Life will come again, when Ceres springs up green.
In the bright September, like the growing seed,
Dormant souls will burst forth, from their bondage freed,
Back from the dead, where long they lay unseen—
Life will come again, when Ceres springs up green.
.
© Dadirri Life Melodies, May 2020.
Dadirri Life Melodies 