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The Most Fortunate
(An Easter Poem)
There have been many women fortunate —
( Cleopatra, Shcba, Nicolcttel)
Who ran a gamut of full, well-livedyears
Sounding the depths of rapture and regret

There have been women who thro' sinful lives — 
(Catherine. Joanna, Pompadour)
Were lapped in luxury; for them the stars
Held always one more, super-gift instore 
Even the women cradled by red Mars — 
(Boadicca, Joan, the Lakshmi Bai!)
They drew their joy from trumpeting of wars —
They loved and fought — and bad their little day !
But none of them — the richest, loveliest, best —
(Queen become beggar, beggar raised to Queen).
Ever attained the pinnacle of bliss
Which waited the poor, lonely Magdalene.

When on a morning dark she heard a Voice—
('Mary!' it said — and worlds were in that name!)
'Master!' she wept, and knelt then at His feet
Wrapped in a radiance white as candle-'flame.

A thousand years ago! 
Yet EVERYyear
Men tell the tale again with bated breath —
How happy, happy, Mary paused to hear
The Voice of Him who triumphed over Death!
Q'ld. E. M. ENGLAND
The Most Fortunate. (1937, March 27). The Courier-Mail(Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), p. 21. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36888212

Edith Mary England was born in Townsville in 1899, and educated in Sydney and at Ipswich Girls’ Grammar School. She married and settled at Boonah. When her first book, The Happy Monarch, was released, in 1927, she had published verse widely in journals, newspapers and magazines throughout Australia. However, many of the poems take the Queensland pastoral environment as their subject matter, and she is one of the first Queensland poets to really come to grips with the unique features of the environment, in poems like Magpies at Sunrise, Queensland Night, Winter Morning, and December in Queensland. Her most popular work is a  second book of poetry,  Queensland Days.

See more Queensland Colonial poets at;http://www.oldqldpoetry.com/

EASTER POEM.
"THE WORLD BY WISDOM KNEW NOT GOD."
ANCIENT men of mighty scroll,
Of wisdom deep and spirits bold;
Have scanned the universal globe;
But they sought where prophets never told,
Essayed to find their Unknown God.
But they sought where saints have never trod.
Oh mind, Augustine! blind to see
Without a kingdom horn in thee,
Dethrone thyself of learned pride,
Kneel at the Cross thy Saviour died.
Secular wisdom, where is thy might?
Canst thou lay inc 'down in sweet repose ,
And awake me in the morning light?
To meet , my Master who arose
I may sleep two nights in silent death,
To breathe my Saviour’s living breath.
V. von Bibra.

EASTER POEM. (1929, March 29). Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 - 1954), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article67806400

Franz Ludwig Freiherr (Baron) von Bibra (10 February 1783 – 14 September 1823) was soldier, author, and early settler of Tasmania, Australia. One of his sons was Wilhelm Carl (1821-1871). 
Franz Ludwig von Bibra. (2013, February 25). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Franz_Ludwig_von_Bibra&oldid=540222145
Sir Donald Dean Von Bibra (1905-1982), grazier and wool industry leader, was born on 10 January 1905 at Launceston, Tasmania, elder son of Tasmanian-born parents William von Bibra, pastoralist, and his wife Kate, née Dean. John Taylor, 'Von Bibra, Sir Donald Dean (1905–1982)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/von-bibra-sir-donald-dean-15885/text27086