One Hundred Holy Songs, Carols, and Sacred Ballads Original, and suitable for music [by Jean Ingelow] |
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A REQUIEM. |
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 | One Hundred Holy Songs, Carols, and Sacred Ballads |  |
71
A REQUIEM.
“I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.”
A word to the Greatness on high,
Sustainer and source of our breath;
A word from the nations that lie
Under the shadow of death.
Sustainer and source of our breath;
A word from the nations that lie
Under the shadow of death.
Thou didst show Thee a Father of yore;
Father, we bring Thee our dead—
See Thou to the rest evermore,
Our love's last and utmost is said.
Father, we bring Thee our dead—
See Thou to the rest evermore,
Our love's last and utmost is said.
Thou didst show Thee a Saviour divine,
To ransom from death and from doom;
Behold now, this dead, he is Thine,
Laid low at the door of Thy tomb.
To ransom from death and from doom;
Behold now, this dead, he is Thine,
Laid low at the door of Thy tomb.
Thou didst show Thee a Spirit of Life;
Spirit! O look to Thine own;
Dust is for dust,—in the strife
Death conquer'd, heart fail'd, light is gone.
Spirit! O look to Thine own;
Dust is for dust,—in the strife
Death conquer'd, heart fail'd, light is gone.
The clod shall lie over—the leaf
Shall sparkle in dew o'er his head;
He is cold, he is deaf to our grief;
He is hid. O our dead! O our dead!
Shall sparkle in dew o'er his head;
He is cold, he is deaf to our grief;
He is hid. O our dead! O our dead!
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Yet, still, Thou great source of our breath,
We trust, to the utmost and end;
O death—the last enemy—death,
The dying hath Life for His friend.
We trust, to the utmost and end;
O death—the last enemy—death,
The dying hath Life for His friend.
When Christ, our true Life, shall appear,
The shadow of death forth shall flee,
Thou Life, ever blest, ever dear,
We have trusted our dead unto Thee.
The shadow of death forth shall flee,
Thou Life, ever blest, ever dear,
We have trusted our dead unto Thee.
| One Hundred Holy Songs, Carols, and Sacred Ballads | |