Easter Poem
Lokrantz describes the meter thus: stanzas of three lines of fifteen syllables with caesura after the octave, with a proparoxytone cadence in the middle and end of the verse.
Much of this poem relates to the Cross. Peter Damian’s Monastery at Fonte Avellana was known as the Venerable Hermitage of the Holy Cross. It was closely associated with the nearby hermitage of Camaldoli which was founded by Damian’s inspiration, St. Romuald. That monastic order is the Camaldolese, which is now a part of the Benedictine order. Much of Damian’s teaching is dedicated to the Cross and the suffering of which it is a symbol. The Camaldolese and Peter Damian put emphasis on the further perfection of the cenobitic life to the eremitic life.
1.
Paschalis festi gaudium mundi replet ambitum.
Caelum, tellus ac maria laeta promat carmina
Et «Alleluia» consonis modulentur organis.
The joy of the Easter festival fills the circuit of the world.
Let heaven, earth, and sea bring forth joyous songs
And let Halelujah play melodiously sounding together with organs.
2.
Solus ululet Tartarus rapta praeda vacuus,
Fractos vectes et ferrea strata ploret moenia,
Quae subruit rex gloriae cum laude victoriae.
Let Hell alone wail emptied of its stolen booty,
Let it deplore its broken locks and demolished iron walls,
Which the king of glory has undermined with praise of victory.
3.
Stupenda lex mysterii, novum genus proelii!
Ligatus nexos liberat, mortuus vivificat,
Dumque vita perimitur, mortis mors efficitur.
Astounding law of mystery, a new sort of battle!
The bound person frees the snares, the dead one comes back to life,
And while life is destroyed, the death of death is brought about.
4.
Statera crucis pendulum mundi librat pretium;
Quod dum exactor petiit, ius antiquum perdidit;
Escam gluttire nititur sed hamo transfigitur.
The scales of the cross weigh the price of the world hanging [in the balance/being measured];
While the collector [judge] seeks for that [the price of the world], it has lost the ancient law [Old Testament law/spiritual heritage];
He struggles to gulp down bait, but is pierced through by the hook.
5.
Composuit chirographum protoplastus hominum,
Quod Christus post in alia solvit ligni tabula;
Quae primus Adam scripserat, secundus oblitterat.
The first human writers composed [Old Testament Law],
That which Christ later erased by means of another tablet of wood [?the cross];
What Adam first had written [Old Testament Law], that which followed [Christ and his teachings in the New Testament] had blotted out.
[The wooden pen of the Old Testament here yields to the wood of the cross. The cross, which looks like a scale, also replaces the old law with its scales of justice.]
6.
Cum auctor vitae moritur, orbis et commoritur.
Sol radios operuit, lugens terra tremuit;
Templi velum dividitur, vis saxorum scinditur.
When the creator of life dies, the whole earth also perishes together.
The sun covered its rays, the mourning earth trembled;
The screen of the temple is divided, the strength of rocks is cut.
7.
Brevi sepulcro clauditur, qui caelo non capitur5.
Praeda vallatus divite victo mortis principe
Triumphali potentia surgit die tertia.
The one who is not contained by heaven is enclosed in a small tomb,
Having been fortified by rich booty with the prince of death having been conquered
He rises with the triumphal power on the third day.
8.
Reddite Christum, vigiles, quem servastis, milites.
Vel mortuum ostendite vel in vivum credite.
Cur gratis vera dicitis, empti falsa fingitis?
Guarding soldiers, give back Christ, whom you guarded.
Either show the dead one or believe in the living one.
Why do you say true things for free, while having been bribed you invent falsehoods?
9.
Mox intonat angelicus sermo mulieribus,
Apostolis ut dulcia haec deferrent nuntia:
In Galilaeam pergite, ibi Christum cernite.
The angelic command loudly proclaims to the women
To disseminate these sweet announcements to the apostles
Go into Galilee, see Christ there.
10.
Iam regis Aegyptiaci servitute liberi
Post Maris Rubri transitum novum demus canticum;
Mortis soluti legibus Christo consurreximus.
We, free from the slavery to the Egyptian king,
After the crossing of the Red Sea let us sing a new song;
Having been Released from the laws of death we have risen up with Christ.
11.
Colite, novi populi, rite pascha Domini,
Paschalis agni sanguine pestes domus tingite,
Fermentum vetus pellite, azyma comedite.
Worship, new peoples [converts], with the Easter rite of the Lord,
Stain with the blood of the paschal lamb your pestilential home [the vermin of your home],
Drive out old yeast, eat unleavened bread.
12.
Totis, Christe, visceribus tibi laudes reddimus,
Qui resurgens a mortuis ultra iam non moreris.
Sit patri laus et parili decus omne flamini.
Amen.
We render praises to you O Christ with all our bodies,
You, Christ, who, rising from the dead, will not linger any longer.
Let there be praise to the father and all honor for the equal priest.
Amen.
