Introitus

Everyman I will be with thee and be thy guide, in thy most need go by thy side.

Oratio

Muse of all the muses, sweet my lord, do not forsake me now. I yearn to die yet have to go on living and, in the meantime, as I voyage across the surface of this my world, send me the powers to write down what I have known, what the Lord who has pressed me into all these troubles has set me to learn: of a young king who had visions and built a city; of the prophet who followed his one god out into the deserts; of the other king who destroyed a temple sending a people into exile and so made possible another faith; of the rabbis and saints and cathedral builders; of so many murders; of the god who turned away his face while his people were murdered; of the attempts to return and to understand. So many words, so many pages. Grant that I may sing my song while the great world circles and then I pray thee, finally and in thine own good time, grant me rest.