Carmen Saeculare

O Lord ! Is Thy path in the Water, The marvellous ways of the Deep ? Not there, O not there ! Wilt Thou slaughter Oblivion’s sons in their sleep ? Hath the deep disobeyed Thee or risen In wrath and revolt to Thy sky, Broken loose from the bands of her prison ? Held counsel against the Most High ? Yea, even as I ! But I, O Most Mighty, invoke Thee, Whose footsteps are in the Unknown. My cries were the cries that awoke Thee, Upstarting in arms from Thy Throne ! I call Thee, I pray Thee, I chide Thee, Whose glory my foes have abhorred. My spirit is fixed, may abide Thee, Awake the Invisible Sword. For Thou art the Lord ! Look down upon earth and behold us Few folk who have sworn to be free. Past days, when the traitors had sold us, We trample ; we call upon Thee ! Look Thou on the armed ones, the furious, The Saxons ! they brandish the steel ; Heaven rings with their insults injurious ; 22