Lady Life Of The Endless Sea

כ"א בתמוז תשס"ז

This past Tuesday, over at Jack's Shack to Jack's query "name a song that makes you cry", I commented that just that day the song Dante's Prayer by Loreena McKennitt had made me cry. The music is breathtakingly gentle and bittersweet.

Though bittersweet, it is a song about the path of a poet's life brought to, and walking through, the Endless sea, out of spiritual exile (in real life, Dante was exiled from the homeland he loved).

The words of the song end with "please remember me ...", for Dante is journeying (ratzo) beyond the sea of Remembrance (Adnut of ice and fire)... the remembrance of another will enable him to return (v'shov).

Lyrics to Dante's Prayer

When the dark wood fell before me
And all the paths were overgrown
When the priests of pride say there is no other way
I tilled the sorrows of stone

I did not believe because I could not see
Though you came to me in the night
When the dawn seemed forever lost
You showed me your love in the light of the stars

Chorus:
Cast your eyes on the ocean
Cast your soul to the sea
When the dark night seems endless
Please remember me

Then the mountain rose before me
By the deep well of desire
From the fountain of forgiveness
Beyond the ice and the fire

Chorus

Though we share this humble path, alone
How fragile is the heart
Oh give these clay feet wings to fly
To touch the face of the stars

Breathe life into this feeble heart
Lift this mortal veil of fear
Take these crumbled hopes, etched with tears
We'll rise above these earthly cares

Chorus

Please remember me
Please remember me ...