Poems (Hooper)/Pergolese

by Lucy Hamilton Hooper

PERGOLESE.

Endlich ist das Werk vollendet,Und der fromme Meister sendet.

Now at last his work he endeth,And the pious Master sendeth Up his thanks to Heaven's throne:Through the arched cathedral swelling,In majestic billows welling, Flow now song and organ tone:

 Stabat mater dolorosa Juxta crucem lachrymosa,  Dum pendebat filius, Cujus animam gementem Contristatem ac dolentem  Pertransivit gladius.

And the Virgin's sorrows holyFill each heart with- melancholy, While the organ deeper swells; Yet the melodies of heavenMake the very pang forgiven That in tears of sorrow wells.

 Quis est homo, qui non fleret Christi matrem si videret  In tanto supplicio? Quis non posso contristari Piam matrem contemplari  Dolentem cum filio?

Pious awe and holy raptureHold the Master's soul in capture, Death foreboding, earnest, mild;Trustfully his eyes he raiseth,And upon the altar gazeth, On the Virgin and the Child.

 Virgo virginum praclara, Mihi jam non sis amara,  Fac me tecum plangere, Fac ut portem Christi mortem Passionis ego sortem  Et plagas recolere.

Hark! The Seraph voices ringing,In the choir of heaven singing, Fill the ear with awed delight; Holy spirits, earth-descending,Heavenward bear the Master, wending, Upward, upward to the light.

 Fac me cruce custodiri, Morte Christi preemuniri,  Confoveri gratia; Quando corpus morietur, Fac ut anima donetur  Paradist gloria.Geibel.