Wednesday, 30 March 2011

Till there was you - Latin lyrics

Till there was you

Tinnitus in colle
Erant, nec sonare novi,
Ita, nequaquam novi dum
Venisti tu.

Et stellae in caelo
Erant, nec micare vidi,
Ita, nequaquam vidi dum
Venisti tu.

Et erant cantus, rosaeque pulchrae,
Mi dicunt
Et dulcia mane prata rore.

Aves in foliis
Erant, nec cantare novi,
Ita, nequaquam novi dum
Venisti tu.

Et erant cantus, rosaeque pulchrae,
Mi dicunt
Et dulcia mane prata rore.

Et amor ubique
Erat nec cantare novi,
Ita, nequaquam novi dum
Venisti tu.

Lyrics sourced by a student teacher at my secondary school ca 1970

From me to you - Latin lyrics

From me to you

Si quid habeo quod cupis,
Si quid opus auxilii,
Vocanti mi tibi id mittem
Amore a me tibi.

Cuncta habeo quae cupis;
Fidelissimum cor mihi;
Vocanti mi tibi id mittam,
Amore a me tibi.

Bracchia volunt tenere
Te ne tu abeas,
Et labra basiare,
Dum satis habeas.

Si quid habeo quod cupis,
Si quid opus auxilii,
Vocanti mi tibi id mittem
Amore a me tibi.

Lyrics sourced by a student teacher at my secondary school ca 1970

Can't buy me love - Latin lyrics

Can’t buy me love

Gemmas emam, amica,
Si tibi placebit;
Debo quodvis amica,
Si tibi placebit;
Non amo nimis pecuniam -
Non dat amorem.

Quidquid est dabo si te
Dices favere mi;
Non sunt multa mi quae dem,
Sed quod est dabo tibi;
Non amo nimis pecuniam -
Non dat amorem.

Non dat amorem,
Semper audio;
Non dat amorem,
Nullo modo.

Gemmas velle te nega,
Et mihi placebit;
Dic te velle talia
Quae nummi non parent;
Non amo nimis pecuniam -
Non dat amorem.

Lyrics sourced by a student teacher at my secondary school ca 1970

All my loving - Latin lyrics

All my loving

Claude oculos, te basiabo,
Cras desiderabo,
Et semper fidelis ero,
Et tum dum redeam
Domum saepe scribam,
Et totum amorem dabo.

Oscula simulabo,
Quae desiderabo,
Spem fore bonam sperabo,
Et tum dum redeam
Domum saepe scribam,
Et totum amorem dabo.

Ita totum amorem dabo,
Tibi totum, numquam cessabo.

Lyrics sourced by a student teacher at my secondary school ca 1970

Poem on Baptism

Baptism

The gentleness with which I wash them,
Welcoming each in the name of threefold God
To life, that they may have it in abundance;
How that gentle trickle, token gesture,
Betrays the depth, the power, of waters flow.

Still tepid fontfuls, tap or kettle fresh,
Speak little of the awesome mysteries - of life
and death - within each glistening drop
That falls from freshfaced forehead as names
are given and life launched upon.

Praying God to bless that vessel and all who sail in her,
they let the mighty frame created of man slide,
accelerate and rush anchor chain clattering
towards waters edge..
And floating now free from lands firm hold
...the venture of life begins.

Not the youthful bubbling of mountain fresh spring,
nor its trickle 'cross welly-trodden bog of peat;

Not the village brook whose fords and delicate bridges
respect even such shallow flow,
nor the great meanders of angler-populated riverbank;

But on beyond the weirs where tidal mud and sandbanks
witness ocean's mighty surge and fall,
where even from the salt rich air,
men’s bones may sense the hours of ebb and flow.

There in the life teeming, shorecrashing,
whitehorseridden, grey thundering roar of open sea,
Lies the majesty of life.

Hidden beneath the waves in richness beyond
imagination from man who looking the other way
reaches beyond stars to find life
that was already so close at hand.


And that inner space whose depths outreach eyes scan,
as it is pulled about by moon, sun, planets, stars;

As it in each movement and flow witnesses
to the shape and being of all that is;

That inner space gives life as its vapours soften the air.
Gives life that it may also receive...
Not only of mans waste to decay and pollute,
but of man also who ventures to cross those buoyant,
perilous depths in peace, at work, at war.

Giggling bathers fill summer pools and beaches,
but wise salt cracked faces whose eyes have seen
the mountainous swell and whose legs feel uneasy
on the firm land respect the blue smile of summer seas
They know also the grey cruel ashen face of storm thrashed sea
offering final embrace to their lives.

And shall we see in that gentle washing,
child cradled in my arm,
the embrace of the sea, of death,
that calls to us all ?

And shall we discern in those token droplets
the rich abundance of life, the whole universe
speaking through each glistening fall and splash ?

Droplets that make their splash and cease to be
yet remain, lost, forever in puddle in flood.

And shall we be as those who go down to sea in ships;
Learning from the wave and storm as from the calm,
that bone-marrow piercing regard,
fear and love of waters clasp ?

This alone I can tell;

That I have felt oceans mighty roar,
and child's baptismal wash,
United as one in tears that flowed,
of anger, bitterness, exhaustion, fear,
and of gentlest love ... even to death.

Poem written Nov 2008

Parent and Child estranged


Keeping busy…
..numbs the pain of remembering

Silence…
...is a voyage through inner and outer darkness

Waiting…
…to hear some still small calming voice

Enduring…
...hopes that crucify yet will not die

Neither laughter nor tears…
...belong in this place

Waiting…
...for the time and place you may choose

The beautiful moment…
...when we might meet again

Ken300 Hymn

As part of the 300th anniversary of the death of Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath & Wells from 1684 to 1691, I've written a hymn commemorating his life.

The hymn was first sung in public at St John the Baptist in Frome, the parish church where Thomas Ken was buried, at a service led by Bishop Peter Price on 20th March 2011.

KEN 300 Hymn
Metre: 88.88 (LM) Tune: Winchester New

We sing with thanks for Thomas Ken,
His legacy of life and pen;
Who showed no false respect for Kings
But cherished only heavenly things;

Who made his converse most sincere
And sought all conscience to keep clear;
Who with the world, himself and Thee
When e'er he slept at peace would be.

His heart of love could not be bound:
The prisoner Jeffreys guilty found,
The poor he welcomed home to dine,
Were equally a child of thine.

Through College days, a man of prayers,
But then within the world's affairs
In sad Tangiers, and at The Hague,
He knows their morals far too vague.

The truth, however hard, he tells
And when deprived of Bath and Wells,
His palace and cathedral seat,
Found welcome solace at Longleat.

He wrote and lived to give thee praise:
His hymns begin and end our days.
Our thanks for Ken to thee we bring
And so with him thy praise we sing:

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye Heavenly Host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.


© Colin Alsbury 2011