Gloria in Profundis There has fallen on earth for a token
A god too great for the sky.
He has burst out of all things and broken
The bounds of eternity:
He has strayed like a thief or a lover
Into time and the terminal land,
For the wine of the world brims over,
Its splendour is split on the sand.

Who is proud when the heavens are humble,
Who mounts if the mountains fall,
If the fixed stars topple and tumble
And a deluge of love drowns all-
Who holds up his will for a warrant,
Who rears up his head for a crown,
Who strives with the starry torrent,
When all that is good goes down?

For in dread of such falling and failing
The fallen angels fell
Inverted in insolence, scaling
The hanging mountain of hell:
Too deep for their sight to scan,
Unmeasured of plummet and rod
Outrushing the fall of man
Is the height of the fall of God.

Glory to God in the Lowest
The spout of the stars in spate-
Where thunderbolt thinks to be slowest
And the lightning fears to be late:
Pursuing, we hunt and hound it,
As men dive for sunken gem,
The fallen star has found it
In the cavern of Bethlehem.

Melody: Passion Chorale as adapted by Paul Simon in "American Tune"

F Dm G E / Am E Am / F Dm G E / Am E Am
F G F C / F Dm A / G C D G / F G C

Labels: chesteron, chords, christmas

  ¶ Monday, July 21, 2008