Easter  Magic

       Had we crucified the rabbit--

       yanked him from his fields of grass

        and staked him out by paws and tender feet

               to quiver, twitch and die in agony

                   of innocence, 

        and then, in three days' time,

        had seen him hop from the tomb

        unscathed

        but for the wounded paws and feet we felt--

        then maybe now we'd talk of Christ,

         pass his story down from child to child

         and only faintly hint at silly myths of

              wicker baskets,

               chocolate eggs,

         treasures hidden in the field

         and some trick hare who died

                  then somehow disappeared.

                                             

                                                                     --------Leslie Leyland Fields