Flicking through the Lyra Eucharistica to sketch out things for the Catherine Winkworth songbook… actually most of the texts there aren’t Winkworth translations, but by a happy coincidence I ended up with one by her and two by another poet who I’ve actually set before as part of Between in God’s eternity.
Sketches below:
- Daily Bread (Adelaide Anne Procter)
- Oh how could I forget him (translation by Catherine Winkworth)
- I do not ask O Lord (Adelaide Anne Procter)
We had La La Bar – open mic musical theatre – the other night, where I played piano, and I think you might be able to hear a bit of influence of that style here. Not that “musical theatre” is a style exactly, but … styles, and the third one is very specifically wanting a full-on Sondheim accompaniment if I could sing and play it at the same time. So they’re actually pretty much not super-congregational-friendly in this case.
1.
Give us our daily Bread,
O God, the Bread of Strength
For we have learnt to know
How weak we are at length :
As children we are weak,
As children must be fed ;
Give us Thy Grace, O Lord,
To be our daily Bread.
Give us our daily Bread,
The bitter bread of grief :
We sought earth’s poisoned feasts
For pleasure and relief ;
We sought her deadly fruits,
But now, O God, instead.
We ask Thy healing Grief
To be our daily Bread.Give us our daily Bread
To cheer our fainting Soul ;
The Feast of Comfort, Lord,
And Peace, to make us whole ;
For we are sick of tears,
The useless tears we shed ;
Now give us Comfort, Lord,
To be our daily Bread.Give us our daily Bread,
The Bread of Angels, Lord,
By us, so many times,
Broken, betrayed, adored ;
His Body and His Blood,
The Feast that Jesus Spread ;
Give Him — our Life, our All—
To be our daily Bread.
2.
O how could I forget him
Who ne’er forgetteth me?
Or tell the love that let Him
Come down to set me free
I lay in darkest sadness till he made all things new
And still fresh love and gladness
Flow from that heart so trueHow could I ever leave Him
Who is so kind a friend
How could i ever grieve him
Who thus to me doth bend?
Have I not seen him dying for us on yonder tree
Do I not hear him crying,
‘Arise and follow me’Forever I will love him
Who saw my hopeless plight
Who felt my sorrows move him
And brought me life and light
Whose arm shall be around me
When my last hour is come
And suffer none to wound me
Though dark the passage home
3.
I do not ask, O Lord, that life may be a pleasant road;
I do not ask that Thou wouldst take from me
Aught of its load.
I do not ask that flowers should always spring beneath my feet
I know too well the poison and the sting of things too sweet
For one thing only, Lord, dear Lord, I plead:
Lead me aright,
Tho’ strength should falter and though heart should bleed,
Through peace to light.I do not ask O Lord that thou should send full Radiance here
Give but a ray of peace that I may tread
Without a fear
I do not ask my cross to understand,
My way to see;
Better in darkness just to feel Thy hand,
And follow Thee.
Joy is like restless day, but peace divine
Like quiet night;
Lead me, O Lord, till perfect day shall shine,
Through peace to light.
(I really can hear this one as the opening to a section in a musical, kind of a character-establishing moment haha.)