Hymn for Holy Saturday

I haven't posted on this blog for a long while, but today I saw that Deacon John had posted the (anonymous) patristic reading from the Office of Readings for Holy Saturday, and it reminded me that I had written a hymn based on this text. I note that I haven't posted it here before. So here it is for your benefit. My suggested tune is Wie soll ich dich empfangen by Melchior Teschner, which you can listen to here.

Today a heavy silence
reigns over all the earth;
a silence and a stillness,
and not a word is heard.
The King himself is sleeping,
the trembling earth is still,
our God-made-flesh, though resting,
now consummates his will.

He’s gone in search of Adam,
our father, his lost sheep;
he visits those in darkness
and in death’s shadow deep.
He’s gone to free from sorrow
lost Adam in his bonds,
and Eve, with him held captive,
who for her freedom longs.

Thus says their true Creator
and truest Son of Eve,
“I order you, O sleeper,
awake from death and live!
For I did not create you
to lie in Hades’ cell.
I am your Resurrection;
you dead, arise from hell!”