II. Requiem Aeternam

[distant layered Gregorian chant] Requiem aeternam dona ei. Et lux perpetua luceat ei. [deep funeral bell] [clear male voice, soft and close] [Male Lead - entire verse, no choir taking lines] Rest now, Father. The bells are yours tonight. The candles bow. The censers sigh. Their smoke ascends an empty sky. We raised your temples stone by stone, carved your face in glass and bone. We dressed the dark in gold and flame, and taught our children how to say your name. [low distant chant] [Gregorian Choir Only] From cradle song to mourner's breath, we carried you through life and death. Your name was whispered over graves to promise those we could not save. [Male Lead - entire verse, no choir taking lines] We called you Father. Called you Lord. We kissed the altar. Kept the word. We waited long for heaven's reply. The years grew old beneath a silent sky. [brief instrumental] [Male Lead - entire verse, no choir taking lines] Perhaps the night once needed you— a watching eye, a story true. Perhaps our fathers, small beneath the endless stars and certain death, placed something loving in the sky because they could not bear goodbye. [soft cello / distant chant] [Gregorian Choir Only] And so your story crossed the years, fed by wonder, fed by fear. Yet dawn still comes without command. The stars still burn. The mountains stand. [close vocal] [Male Lead - entire verse, no choir taking lines] The churches stand. The bells still ring. Old choirs remember how to sing. Your painted eyes still watch the nave. But even sacred names can fade. An echo stays when voice is gone. A name remains when faith moves on. And even gods, when songs grow still, must meet the silence all things will. [deep layered chant] [Gregorian Choir Only] Requiem aeternam dona ei. [Male Lead - entire verse, no choir taking lines] [lead] No curse shall mark your final rite. No hand shall strike. No torch ignite. The hands once lifted up in prayer will gently lay your legend there. Let incense fade. Let candles cease. Let ancient fear be given peace. [pause] [Gregorian Choir Only] Once we begged you: keep our dead. Hold them close when breath had fled. We dreamed thy arms would hold them fast, till death should bring us home at last. [Male Lead - entire verse, no choir taking lines] [very close vocal] Tonight no soul is ours to keep. Only the story we lay to sleep. [deep funeral bell] [choir, extremely distant] Requiescat in pace. [lead] Rest. [silence]