Farewell To Alleluia
Set to the plainsong hymn-tune Tantum Ergo, with a medieval text translated by JM Neale.
SATB and organ. Steady, chantlike, and somber. Also appropriate where the "burying of the Alleluias" is observed on Shrove Tuesday.
Alleluia, song of sweetness,
Voice of joy that cannot die.
Alleluia is the anthem
Ever dear to choirs on high.
In the house of God abiding
Thus they sing eternally.
Alleluia thou resoundest
True Jerusalem, and free,
Alleluia, joyful mother,
All thy children sing with thee;
But by Babylon's sad waters
Mourning exiles now are we.
Alleluia cannot always
Be our song while here below;
Alleluia our transgressions
Make us for a while forego.
For the solemn time is coming
When our tears for sin must flow.
Therefore in our hymns we pray Thee
Grant us blessed Trinity
At the last to keep thine Easter,
In our home beyond the sky,
There to thee for ever singing,
Alleluia joyfully.