A moon-mist whispers, silver-lifting, drifting,
twining through the night-grey grasses,
seeping over Irwell's eddies.
Wraith, and wanton,
trailing skirts of dew
on setts and stones,
and touching tower and arch,
while pinnacles, black against the sky,
reach fingers to the eastern dawn:

A solis ortu usque ad occasum, (soloist: From the rising to the setting of the sun)
laudabile nomen Domini (soloist: the praiseworthy name of the Lord)
Seven times a day will I praise thee...

St Denys pray me peace
Sweet Mary pray my soul,
St George thee me defend...

A solis ortu usque ad occasum,
laudabile nomen Domini
Seven times a day will I praise thee...


Land, that once was soft-slipper trod,
or pressed by foot unshod;
That summer-soft trees
whispered sunbeams through
to toss, unseen, the hidden perfumes
from the meadow-sweet upon the breeze;

That folded stone, and thatch;
and circled woodscent smoke,
drifting, slow, towards the sky;
or slept;
a resting, plough-lined soil and garnered wealth, beneath the winterwhite;

Or cowered and moaned, torn, whirling,
cruel, and yet kind, in cleansing gales;

And nurtured polysyllabic streams,
and rivers flowing full of sustenance
in tranquil bubble-frosted salmon-hides.



Land, lost, beneath hard feet unrhythmic shod;
beneath adulterated bricks,
hard-quarried and unnatural stone,
Squared eye-unkind palaces of commerce, acquisition;

Beneath a black destroying slime of fumes,
and battered with a red and pounding blast;


Land; hurried over,
trampled on, ignored;
beaten down...



The hum and whine,
and clank and grind,

and trip and switch
and shuttle-click;
and thunder clang

in drab and dark
and furnace spark;
and sweep, and rush,
cascade, cascade all round and down,
and mine black tendrils
round ear coils
and drown sound down.



I will show wonders in heaven, and on earth blood...
Blood!
and death and widows;
and orphan cries;
and blood spilled fresh on Peter's field,

as August sun strikes flash and spark
from beating hooves, and fear's down-dash sabres.


Mother! Ah!


I will show wonders in heaven,
and on earth blood, and fire, and whirling smoke.


Ave Maria; Maria, ora pro nobis;
Saint Mary pray me peace
Ora...
Dona eis requiem


I will show wonders in heaven


Sing a new song to the Lord for He has worked wonders.
His right hand and his holy arm have brought salvation!
Sing psalms to the Lord with the harp,
with the sound of music.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn.
Acclaim the King, the Lord!

I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart
and glorify your name for ever.

And thorned red rose of England cries:
"Magnificat! Ad maiorem Dei Gloriam!"


Oh Sweet Mary, pray my soul;
Saint Denys, pray me peace...
peace.