1. |
Requiem Aeternam
07:26
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Mother:
The black rooster greets the morning at the breaking of the day
And I know the war is coming calling our young folk away.
Hear the distant anger burning at the breaking of our vote,
Into the streets we pour our violence, civil hands at silent throats.
I remember the first snow, on the morning of her birth.
A silent eiderdown covering the frozen Earth.
Rosy cheeks and open eyes couldn’t recognise her curse,
Perpetual winter on Earth.
Choir of Soldiers:
Et lux perpetua, luceat.
Et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Daughter:
Requiem aeternam.
Requiem requiem aeternam.
Requiem requiem aeternam.
Requiem requiem aeternam, dona eis requiem
Choir of Soldiers:
Requiem requiem aeternam.
Requiem requiem aeternam, dona eis requiem.
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2. |
Kyrie and Dies Irae
07:58
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Kyrie
Daughter (with choir of soldiers backing):
Kyrie, eleison.
Kyrie, eleison.
Kyrie, kyrie, kyrie christe eleison.
Mother (spoken):
My Dear Daughter,
I hope this letter reaches you in the battle field. I am writing to warn you: do not to come back after the war ends, I’m leaving home. You implored me to await your victorious return, promising resources and power to heat the failing farm, but what is the point now the earth is poisoned? The soil is lifeless dirt.
Do you remember how long it’s been since we last had successful crops? Some seeds I’ve been saving since before you were born. In the years since you enlisted the cold weather has forced a retreat, we filled the poly-tunnels and green houses, and our own houses with crops. Pots of seedlings crowding at the windowsills. I sent the farm hands home. No need for gardeners in winter. They dutifully did all the end of year maintenance, even washing the hot house windows to let in as much of the meagre sun as possible. The farm was put to bed to await spring, a spring we are still waiting for. The world shrunk, snow drifts up the drive, up to the door. Once the power ran out we slowly burnt all the trees to keep warm, even the orchard. The Blenheim Orange and Ergmont Russet and the little apple tree we planted together, but I’ve kept the seeds of each. I dream of mustard greens and celebration squash, sungold tomatoes and ink black potatoes. We had grapes once, you know. Hard to believe, hard to imagine. The twisted old vine is till there in the hot house at the edge of the walled garden.
This season not even the weeds have returned. All the little animals and birds have moved south to find food, and in the last weeks the bears have come down from the North mountains driven by hunger. I will have to follow them. I am taking my walking stick and hammock and all of the seeds. I’ve gone through the rat proof old cabinets and gathered everything. I’ve got just enough preserves left for one last journey, and must leave today or starve waiting for the end of this pointless war. I will take the East road down South, looking for land to plant the seeds and start again. Find me where the snow melts, I’ll leave a sign.
All my love, Mother Xxx
Dies Irae
Daughter and Choir of Soldiers:
Dies irae, dies illa,
Solvet saeclum in favilla,
Teste David cum Sibylla.
Quantus tremor est futurus,
Quando judex est venturus,
Cuncta stricte discussurus!
Tuba mirum spargens sonum
Per sepulcra regionum,
Coget omnes ante thronum.
Mors stupebit et natura,
Cum resurget creatura,
Judicanti responsura.
Liber scriptus proferetur,
In quo totum continetur,
Unde mundus judicetur.
Dies irae, dies illa.
Daughter:
Summon before me
Legions on this day of wrath!
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3. |
Mother's Journey
05:40
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Mother:
Damp the fire and close the door
Cast off the life I lived before
Abandoning my empty nest
Adrift and dispossessed
I’m leaving home
I’m leaving home empty
North star at my back
Long road home
Frozen peaks and troughs of tracks
Tracing trails of travelled past
Picking spikes in shattered ground
Fog and flurries soften sound
Walking staff, eyes down cast
Adrift in drifts and falling fast
Silver shadows chase around
Ruined houses huddle down
Fireside constellations
Dark sky consultations
North Star guide me through
To break fresh ground anew
Earthbound
Moon rise
Hope like cold
Preserves the things I cannot hold
Cold like hope
Cools my blood when I cannot cope
Ice dreams of thaw
Rivers tracing where they ran before
Seeds dream of sun
Tender reaching for what they’ll become
I’m leaving home
I’ll leave a trail,
I can feel the North star at my back
Long road home
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4. |
The Storm and Lacrimosa
09:27
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The Storm
(Instrumental)
Lacrimosa
Daughter:
Lacrimose dies illa
Qua resurget ex favilla
Judicandus homo reus
Lay me down in full regalia
Cleave my blood and bone to failure
Non can save us, uncourageous
Soldiers in the storm
Vainglorious we fought for power
Daughter and Choir of Ghost Soldiers:
A bitter brutal final hour
Unrelenting, unrepenting power
Powerless we died in vain
Consumed in ice and pain
Keening calling, weeping squalling storm
Lacrimose dies illa
Daughter:
Qua resurget ex favilla
Judicandus homo reus
Cleave my blood and bone to failure
Non can save us, uncourageous
Dredge my soul of guilt and trauma
Devouring the earth
Choir of Ghost Soldiers:
(Qua resurget ex favilla
Judicandus homo reus
Lacrimosa dies illa)
Daughter:
I’m alone out here lost in the waste all alone
Where to go from here bruised and torn all alone
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5. |
Pie Jesu
05:36
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Mother and Daughter:
Pie Jesu, pie Jesu
Pie Jesu, pie Jesu
Domine, dona eis requiem.
Domine, dona eis requiem.
Mother:
Silent dawn after the storm,
Daughter:
lone surviving soul
Mother and Daughter:
I think of you.
Daughter:
Lost
Mother:
adrift
Daughter:
my mind
Mother:
my heart
Daughter:
Can’t
Mother:
believe
Daughter:
how far
Mother and Daughter:
we’ve grown apart.
Remember childhood, can we ever go back?
Domine, domine, donna eis requiem
Can we find common ground? I’ll keep searching on.
Mother:
You take
Daughter:
you give
Mother:
too much
Daughter:
too freely
Mother:
Can’t
Daughter:
you see
Mother and Daughter:
I’m trying to save you.
Though we may disagree, everything I do is for you.
Domine, domine, donna eis requiem
Can we find common ground? I’ll keep searching on.
Mother:
I'll keep searching for signs of Spring,
Buds and leaves emerging,
Shades of growing hope,
Gentle green reaching through the snow.
Feel the signs of Spring,
Buds and leaves emerging,
The winds of hope help my garden to grow,
Ev'rything's for you
Daughter:
A glimmer of hope shines though,
Casting its light on me,
A burning jewel in the snow,
Finally finding my power,
I must bring it home for you,
Ev’rything’s for you.
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6. |
Lux Aeterna
05:40
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Mother:
Gather round and gather in
We sing the farmers hymn
Seasonal perennial
We welcome in the spring
Gather round and gather in
Fine fibres to be spun
Cultivate regenerate
We’re heralding the sun
Gather round and gather in
We sing a solar song
Eternal perpetual
Reap the whole day long
Mother and Choir of Farmers:
Sing the song
and dance the dance
we sow the seeds
and plant the plants
Sing the song
and dance the dance
we sow the seeds
and plant the plants
Mother:
Gather round and gather in
Mother and Choir of farmers:
Sing the song
and dance the dance
we sow the seeds
and plant the plants
Sing the song
and dance the dance
we sow the seeds
and plant the plants
Choir of Farmers:
Solanum Tuberosum, Blue Annelise, Early Fortune, Jersey Royal, Russet, Yukon, Gold Rush, Charlotte
Triticum, Einkorn, Emmer, Spelt, Durum, April Bearded, Red Lammas, Purple, Square headed, Rye, Landrace
Linum Usitatissimum, Nathalie, Lisette, Linor
Trifolium Pratense, Phaceilia, Clover
Beta vulgaris conditiva, Mangle-Wurzel, Sugar, Crimson king, Badger Flame, Bolthardy, Chioggia
Lens Culinaris, Fabecea, Carlin, Borlotti, Canelinni, Hariocot, Adzuki, Garbonzo
Brassica Oleracea Italica, Purple sprouting, Calabrese, Sun King, Green Magic, Romanesco
Brassica Oleracea Acephala, Cavelo Nero
Mother (spoken):
My Dear Daughter,
I hope you received my first letter, and are on your way to find me now – but I’m sending this just in case… the old rooster isn’t the most reliable messenger. I worry about you both out in the waste. I’m sorry I couldn’t wait any longer at the farm, but after weeks of walking I have finally found fertile ground to sow the seeds I’ve been saving. Things are germinating already, but I’ve kept the apple seeds for us to plant together.
I’ve met many people and animals fleeing the storm and the war travelling south. We’re swapping seeds and trying to cultivate the land. All together we’ve managed to salvage a lot of tubers, grains, fibre flax, cover crops, beets and beans and brassicas. Spelt, Durum and April bearded wheat are coming through beautifully but many larger animals have already starved. The bears from the mountains who I’ve been following on their journey to find food were the first to fall. Ursus maritiems actos. A symptom and a symbol of the collapsing ecosystem. The latest extinction.
When will enough be enough? I wish you could let go of the idea that you can save the world with your mission, to extract every last scrap of dwindling power. We’ve gutted the earth, the barren battle fields and wastelands I had to trudge through, broke my heart.
I still dream of your return. You could be so much help to us here, and it would be a great joy for me to see you again. I know we’ve grown apart over the years but I would love to have you gather round the fire with me like we used to.
All my love, Mother Xxx
Mother (sung):
Gather round
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7. |
Offertorium
06:53
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Daughter:
Keep my head above the snow
Focus on the road
I bear this source of light warmth
Endure this radiant glow
for you
Keep my feet upon the track
Burden on my back
I bear the cost of soldiers lost
To bring the power home
to you
Arriving home
I’m finding home, empty
Why couldn’t you wait for me
Long road home
I opened every door
Memories echo where we lived before
Terrified to find that you had died
Dreams of home grown fires
You burned our apple trees
My childhood is firewood, you abandoned me
Choir of Ghost Soliders:
De profundo lacu.
Absorbeat eas tartarus.
Cadant in obscurum.
Libera animas omnium
Fidelium defunctorum
Depoenis inferni!
Hostias et preces
Mortem advitam
Libera animas omium
Fidelium defunctorum
Depoenis inferni!
Libera animas omnium
Fidelium defunctorum
Depoenis inferni!
Daughter:
Deliver me
From hopelessness
Consumed with wrath
I fought tooth and nail
Engulfed in darkness
I’ll light the way
Daughter and Choir of Ghost Soldiers:
I sacrificed it all
To win this power for my home and cause
I transformed through fire
I burn with righteous anger and desire
I command deliverance from eternal death!
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8. |
In Paradisium
05:39
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Choir of Mourners:
Anthropocene
Anthropocene
When will your greed
Start to recede
Mother:
When the world fades behind black smoke
When the land burns and the seas choke
When the sky cracks and the earth quakes
Will your thirst quench will your heart break?
Choir of Mourners:
Anthropocene
Mother:
Everything you make is poison
Choir of Mourners
Everything is poison (Everything is poison)
Mother:
When it returns to the earth
Choir of Mourners
When it returns to Earth (return to the Earth)
Mother:
Everything you take is stolen
Choir of Mourners:
Everything is stolen
Mother:
cant slake your never ending thirst
Choir of Mourners:
never ending thirst
Mother:
We gather round to celebrate the life
Choir of Mourners:
In paradisum deducant angeli
Mother:
The life of Ursus maritiems actos
Choir of Mourners:
In tuo adventu suscipiant te martyrus
Mother:
The last of her kind
Choir of Mourners:
Chorus angelorum te suscipat
aeternam habeas requiem.
Mycelium, mycelium...
Mother:
Stitching undergrowth to underworlds with gossamer thread
Regenerate reincarnate
Choir of Mourners:
Regenerate reincarnate
Mother:
Transform flesh and blood to nourishment and feast on the dead
Regenerate reincarnate
Choir of Mourners:
Regenerate reincarnate
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9. |
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Mother and Daughter:
A persistent anger burning at the failure of our cause
A devouring hunger clawing sowing envy and discord
Can two sides be reunited infinite paths converge
Feel the change germinating as the seed leaves emerge
Mother:
Keep the garden for us all
Daughter:
Guard my powers at all costs
Mother:
I still dream of your return
Daughter:
Grieve the futures that we’ve lost,
Mourn the lives that we once knew,
Mother:
Fear the scenes yet to unfurl
Mother and Daughter:
Requiem for our fading world
Mother, Daughter and Choir of Humanity:
Requiem aeternum
Requiem requiem aeternum aeternam
Mother and Choir of Humanity:
Exaudi exaudi
Requiem aeternum
Requiem aeternam dona eis,
Requiem requiem
Daughter:
I’ll track you down, through storm and hail
I was lost, now I see the trail of seeds
To a new age
Requiem
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Kerrin Tatman Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
"extremely impressive" Peter Phillips - Director of The Tallis Scholars on 'Stabat
Mater'
I am a composer, multi-instrumentalist and creative producer based in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. I write a mixture of contemporary classical and neo-folk pieces for stage, film and concert hall and perform as a cellist, pianist, singer and accordionist in a variety of creative settings.
... more
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