Story Behind the Song
Commissioned by the San Francisco Chamber Singers. The piece is in memoriam to victims of AIDS
Lyrics
185
Here I am buried and [only] shortly before was I born:
I am that one to whom death was swift and cruel--
Yes, so much so that my naked soul
Just barely perceives its altered state.
198
Were the lamentations of others flesh and blood
To these bones, so that I were to live again
It would be merciless of those who languish and pity me
To return to them my soul, liberated by heaven.
189
Here lie closed the beautiful eyes whose light while open
Outshone those most radiant and holy.
As now, in death, they give illumination to so many:
Whether your death is our loss or gain we cannot say.
192
If it is true, as it may be, that after the body,
Which it scarcely rules [and] only by celestial law,
Lives the soul; and, that once freed,
Then and only then is it blessed--
Because through death does it become divine,
Yes, as to die it was born--
Therefore, guilelessly,
Should we turn our sorrow into laughter
For our departed, whom,
When shed of his fragile mortal remains,
Has from misery reached true peace
At the final hour of his life.
Thus must desire for our friend be tempered
By how much less worthy it is to inhabit the earth
Than it is to reside with God.
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