Wrathful day, the day
Earth dissolves in ember:
So attest David and the sybil.
What tremor shall be,
When the judge ventures
To hear all things?
The trumpet, wondrous, sounds
Throughout the sepulchers,
Summoning all throneward.
Death and nature stupefy,
For creation rises
Its judge to answer.
The book is written, is proffered,
Containing the totality
Whence earth is judged.
The judge is seated,
All secrets unveiling;
Nothing remains unpublished.
What terms can a wretch dictate?
Which saint entreat
If scarcely the righteous are secure?
O King, tremendous, majestic,
The saved freely saving,
Save me, O fount of mercy.
Remember, merciful Jesus,
For me you sojourned here;
Lose me not that day.
Seeking me, you wearied;
Redeeming me, suffered the cross:
Let not this labor be in vain.
Just judge, avenger,
Grant me remission
Before the day of reckoning.
I moan as one guilty;
Shame reddens my cheeks:
The suppliant spare, O Lord.
You absolved Mary;
You heard the thief;
You give me hope.
My prayers are beneath you;
But you are good, in grace
Let me not burn eternally.
Among your sheep grant me place,
From the goats sequester,
Set me at your right hand.
The cursed confounded,
To acrid flames consigned,
Count me with the blessed.
Please, supplicant and bowed,
My contrite heart in ashes,
Watch over my end.
That tearful day,
When comes from ember
The guilty man to judgement:
Spare him then, O Lord.
Merciful Jesus, Lord,
Grant him rest.
Amen.
—Trans. from “Dies irae”
