Give ear, give ear, good Christ­ian men!
The lay is worth a hear­ing:
We tell how grief hath end­ed woe,
And fear hath fin­ished fear­ing:
And pain that last­ed for a day
Hath brought eter­nal cheer­ing!

Was ev­er bat­tle won like this—
Where He that lost was gain­ing:
And He that fell was tri­umph­ing,
And He that died was reign­ing:
And He that held the reed of scorn,
A scepter was ob­tain­ing?

The win­ner then had such a foil
As crushed him down for ev­er:
The wise was taken in his craft,
The strong in his en­dea­vor:
And He, the slain, was vic­tor still,
And he that slew Him, nev­er!

Give ear, give ear, good Christ­ian men!
The rid­dle is ex­pound­ed:
From north to south, from east to west,
Its mean­ing shall be sound­ed:
On East­er Day was fought the fight,
Whereon the crown is found­ed!