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The funeral of the Queen Mother

Lament For The Dead

All churches need a hymn of lament for the dead and Infinite Dimensions is no exception, so here is one to fit the bill. It is based on the great old Scottish lament for the fallen: "The Flowers Of The Forest".

I have kept the tune, as sung by Kenneth McKallar among others, but used all new words. My words are intended to apply to all folk, not just those tragically killed in battle before their time. Since the circumstances of people's deaths are generally different there are various verses to suit various circumstances, including a child's death and the death of an evil man. There is also a final verse of general nature setting out the Doctrine of Infinite Dimensions' view of death and what comes after.

Only 2 verses of this hymn should be sung on one occasion: one of the specific verses to start and finishing with the general verse. The pronouns and verbs should be changed if necessary to suit the sex of the deceased. The general verse should stay as they/we.

Since the melody is a tricky one the specific verse should be sung by a decent soloist, preferably a female alto. The general verse can be sung by a choir, (with or without the soloist), and by the congregation as well.

I have chosen not to do an SATB arrangement of this hymn. I guess it could be done but since the first verse should be sung solo and the 2nd verse sung by the congregation there seemed little point...

Words: Warren Mars: 2018
Music: Scottish Trad

For those taken before their time

Who holds the authority to take this one so early,
No one has such right and so it is a stroke of fate.
Yes, indeed it seemeth she was taken ere her proper time,
Fate is not fair, nor straight and cruel may be its ways.
Yet she is of the infinite although her life was mortal,
And weighty are the lives of those so taken ere their prime.
For all she held internal doth shine beyond eternal,
Changed shall she live again beyond this mortal line.

For those taken slightly early

Here lies an agu who was taken somewhat early,
We'll never know the years with him that fate has stole away.
Yes, there is sadness as we think upon his memory,
The good things that he did and his character within.
Never more to see his face, to hear his voice, to feel his touch,
Never more to mine the golden nature of his mind.
It's sad that he is gone now and never to return here,
Yet we can rejoice in that we knew him in his prime.

For those taken when they were ripe for harvesting

Here lies an agu who was taken at the right time,
Mourn not overmuch as she did live a good long time.
Still, there is sadness as we think upon her memory,
The fine things that she did and her character within.
Never more to see her face, to hear her voice, to feel her touch,
Never more to mine the golden nature of her mind.
It's sad that she is gone now and never to return here,
Yet we can rejoice in that we knew her in her prime.

For those who should have been taken earlier.... murderers, rapists, bullies, thieves and the like

Here lies an evil husk, a disgrace to Orithia,
His life was nasty thing that hurt more than it healed.
Yes, we can be glad now, his evil reign is over,
This world is made the better by the ending of his life.
Yet his soul is infinite, his spark is life eternal,
This stain upon his character means little overall.
He took the wrong road this time but his next life will be different,
He gets another chance and when he wakes up he'll be changed.

General conclusion

All of us are mortal in this world that we are born to.
Our day of termination is the bookend to our birth.
Though they have gone now their memory will linger,
Their lives here live forever in the glory of the past.
Their spirits are not dead though, they bears the thread immortal,
Transcendant in the infinite live their eternal sparks.
Once born, an agu shines like a star up in the heavens,
And when our lives are over then we all shall meet again.

The vocal score with chords is provided here.
I have also provided an arrangement for voice and piano here.

Finally, I have provided a recording of my computer synthesizer playing the piano & voice arrangement. There is no real singing and the synthesizer is rather ordinary. Nevertheless the notes are all there and one can sing along with it or use it get an idea of how it should sound.