Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2025

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by AMAC, Robert B. Charles

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AMAC Magazine Exclusive

At Easter, we are slowed, and life is allowed to take a pause, as we remember once again what matters, that this life is not the end, that spring comes eternal, like eternity itself, a place of joy—flowers and comfort replacing snow and ice, a recurring sign of The Resurrection and His timeless sacrifice.

As we welcome Easter this year, what Orthodox Christians call Pascha, something seems different, at least to me. For all that ails us, life’s overcast seems lighter, the sun somehow closer, hope more palpable, our recent reprieve from darkness a silent, subtle sign of good ahead, not bad instead.

We often think of where we are, forgetting where we might have been, how different twists and turns in the road—all of which somehow led us here—could have taken us elsewhere, filled our lives with fear.

But at Easter—this is the point—hope abounds, and it should. In Our Savior’s love – which knows no end, the definition of great—there is consolation, restoration, and anticipation to celebrate.

Thinking on the day, two poems come to mind. One is Christina Rosetti’s “Good Friday,” a sobering, poetic plea that she be moved to tears on Easter, something she struggles with in a world of distraction.

“Am I a stone, and not a sheep,
That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross,
To number drop by drop Thy blood’s slow loss,
And yet not weep?
Not so those women loved
Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee;
Not so fallen Peter, weeping bitterly;
Not so the thief was moved;
Not so the Sun and Moon
Which hid their faces in a starless sky,
A horror of great darkness at broad noon –
I, only I.
Yet give not o’er,
But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock;
Greater than Moses, turn and look once more
And smite a rock.”

Christina Rosetti (1830-1894) was a woman of deep faith, human, as we all are. She was asking for tears, the gift of feeling, of gratitude, that faith be restored, her heart be not one of stone, unable to weep, but opened again, led like the Shepherd’s sheep. Others feel the sacrifice on Good Friday, joy at Easter.
The poem ends with Moses, who twice smote a rock and caused water to pour from it, so why not from her?

Then my mind goes to Spring’s joy and the promise of eternity, Easter’s answer to Good Friday. Here, then, is the second half, the answer to fear and sadness, why faith is not in vain, why salvation follows pain, just as flowers follow rain.

Here is the epic poem by Robert Browning (1812-1889), entitled “Pippa’s Song.” Written not far from where Rosetti lived, as they both lived in London at the same time, Browning’s poem is all hope.

“The year’s at the spring,
And day’s at the morn;
Morning’s at seven;
The hill-side’s dew-pearl’d;
The lark’s on the wing;
The snail’s on the thorn;
God’s in His heaven—–
All’s right with the world! ”
The year’s at the spring,
And day’s at the morn;
Morning’s at seven;
The hill-side’s dew-pearl’d;
The lark’s on the wing;
The snail’s on the thorn;
God’s in His heaven–
All’s right with the world!”

So, at Easter we are slowed, life is given a pause, and our hearts cry and sing as we remember again what matters, that this life is not the end, that spring comes eternal, and, like eternity itself, is a place of joy— flowers and comfort, not snow and ice, a sign of The Resurrection and His timeless sacrifice.

Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC. Robert Charles has also just released an uplifting new book, “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024).