Now the green blade riseth

Happy Easter! Alleluia, Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen, indeed!

One of my favorite Easter hymns is "Now the green blade riseth," to the tune of noel nouvelet which is also a tune used at Christmas (Sing we now at Christmas). This is not unique - there are other hymns that are sung with different words at more than one feast. I like this one because it's about love coming again.

I was surprised to find that Steve Winwood (he of the Spencer Davis Group, back in the day, a young teenager known as Stevie, singing Gimme Some Lovin, and I'm a man, and later with Traffic The low spark of high-heeled boys) had recorded this beautiful Easter hymn last year (now that he's in his early 70's). Out standing in a field, even. Winwood is a master of the English folk song, don't you think? (Remember John Barleycorn?)

Even if it is not your favorite, I hope you'll enjoy hearing it today.

 

And here are the words:

1  Now the green blade riseth from the buried grain,
Wheat that in dark earth many days has lain;
Love lives again, that with the dead has been:
Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green.

2  In the grave they laid him, Love whom men had slain,
Thinking that never he would wake again,
Laid in the earth, like grain that sleeps unseen
Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green.

3  Forth he came at Easter, like the risen grain,
He that for three days in the grave had lain,
Quick from the dead my risen Lord is seen:
Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green.

4  When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain,
Thy touch can call us back to life again,
Fields of our hearts, that dead and bare have been:
 :Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green.