Stories from the Exile

Words, music and arrangements by Vincent Lockhart


Prelude (per Chiara)
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Stories from the Exile - Prelude (per Chiara)


And when the stars appear
at last,
one by one
we are breathed
from the earth.
Each a part
of the Fire,
of the Dream.
Come to be broken
so to be
real.
So we rise up
broken and frail
from the dust of
the earth
and our Fall.
But the hope that we have
isn’t just a dream.
It’s come to live
among us
make his home in our flesh,
to clothe the bones of the dead.
 
 
Forth,
unobserved
we went
from prisons deep and dark
as a soul
into the void
lifted up
as one in him
to draw us all
into the Lord.
So we hang there
abandoned as stars,
a light the world will misunderstand.
But he heals the Dark Wound that we hide,
bathes the world with our tears,
to bind us all in his joy,
in the freedom heaven bears,
till we come, at last,
to be Love.
 






Vocals, guitar and string quartet sequencing:
Vincent Lockhart
Backing vocals: Alicia Devine, Anne Duncan, Bethany Friery, Noreen Lockhart and Deirdre Morrison



Background

Some might find the following helpful and of interest.

The song was written during one of the darkest moments of my life and was a statement to myself of what I believe, what I dream and hope for, what my life is supposed to be about. It is a cry of light from a dark place, part of the spiritual journey undertaken from the depths of the earth to heaven. Most importantly it is not taken alone but with others.
 
Verse 1
Lines 1-2: And when the stars appear at last….
The opening lines are taken from the end of Dante Alighieri's Inferno when Dante and Homer emerge from their long journey through hell:  'E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle.' ('Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars') (Canto XXXIV:139)
 
Lines 3-5: One by one, we are breathed from the earth….
We are born as individuals but called by the nature God has given us to become one with those around us, with creation, with God. Every experience of darkness can become a new birth if lived with love and by emptying and abandoning ourselves to God, to God whom we cannot know simply with our minds or with muscular spiritual strivings. What follows then is a birth, a rebirth, to be created from the very soil of our isolation and darkness as God breathed life into the soil to create Adam (Gen. 2:7), as the resurrection of Christ from the grave is (Ancient sermon on Holy Saturday, Office of Readings).
 
Lines 6-8: Each a part of the Fire, of the Dream….
We are born apart, distinct, but we achieve meaning through the journey to an on Calvary,
cf. 'The Dream of the Rood', 'The Cloud of Unknowing'.

Lines 9-11: Come to be broken, so to be real….
Image of the Eucharist. See: Acts 24:30-31

Lines 10-14: So we rise up…. the earth and our Fall… cf. Gen. 3:9

Lines 19-21: It's come to live…. make his home in our flesh … cf. Jn. 1:14

Line 22: … to clothe the bones of the dead … cf. Ez. 37:1-9

Verse 2
Lines 1-6: Forth, unobserved we went…. into the void
From 'The Ascent of Mount Carmel', John of the Cross.
'En una noche oscura / con ansias en amores inflamada, / ¡oh dichosa ventura!, / salí sin ser notada / estando ya mi casa sosegada'
('On a dark night, Kindled in love with yearnings - oh, happy chance! - I went forth without being observed, My house being now at rest.')
 
Lines 7-10: … lifted up… into the Lord
cf. Jn. 12:32-33; Num. 21:8-9

Lines 14-15: But he heals the Dark Wound…
cf. Interior Castle, 6th Mansions, 2:2, Teresa of Avila.

Lines 16-17: … bathes the world…
cf. Jesus Forsaken, Chiara Lubich.

Lines 18-20: till we come at last… to be Love
cf. XXXIV, 46, Inferno, Dante.
('vidi de le cose belle che porta 'l ciel'')
cf. Essere l'Amore, Chiara Lubich.