Lyrics
GERONTIUS:
JESU, MARIA - I am near to death,
And Thou art calling me; I know it now.
Not by the token of this faltering breath,
This chill at heart,, this dampness on my
brow,a014 (Jesu, have mercy! Mary, pray for me!)
'tis this new feeling, never felt before,
(Be with me, Lord, in my extremity!)
That I am going, that I am no more.
a018Tis this strange innermost abandonment,
(Lover of souls! great God! I look to Thee,)
This emptying out of each constituent
And natural force, by which I come to be.
Pray for me, 0 my friends; a visitant
Is knocking his dire summons at my door,
The like of whom, to scare me and to daunt,
Has never, never come to me before;
a018us death,a014O loving friends, your prayers!a014 a018tis he!
As though my very being had given way,
As though I was no more a substance now,
And could fall back on nought to be my stay,
(Help, loving Lord! Thou my sole Refuge,
Thou,)
And turn no whither, but must needs decay
And drop from out the universal frame
Into that shapeless, scopeless, blank abyss,
That utter nothingness, of which I came:
This is it that has come to pass in me;
O horror! this it is, my dearest, this;
So pray for me, my friends, who have not strength to pray.
ASSISTANTS
KYRIE eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison.
Holy Mary, pray for him.
All holy Angels, pray for him.
Choirs of the righteous, pray for him.
Holy Abraham, pray for him.
St John Baptist, St Joseph, pray for him.
St Peter, St Paul, St Andrew, St John,
All Apostles, all Evangelists, pray for him.
All holy Disciples of the Lord, pray for him.
All holy Innocents, pray for him.
All holy Martyrs, all holy Confessors,
All holy Hermits, all holy Virgins,
All ye Saints of God, pray for him.
GERONTIUS:
ROUSE thee, my fainting soul, and play the man;
And through such waning span Of life and thought as still has to be trod,
Prepare to meet thy God.
And while the storm of that bewilderment Is for a season spent,
And, ere afresh the ruin on thee fall, Use well the interval.
Awesome song. Can't wait to hear the rest. Kick ass.