The Daily Crescent

It is told me I must die.

He was called to death as a traitor, in the reign of Charles II.
Richard Laurence, a lawyer, was justly condemned.
Just before his execution, he wrote the following unique and
poignant requiem poem. In the language of the devoutly religious,
perhaps there is not in this or any other language a poem
which appears to have flowed so entirely from the heart.

It is told me I must die:
O happy news!
Be glad, O my soul,
And thou, rejoice in Jesus, thy Saviour.
Would he have laid down his life for thee?
If he has sustained thy conversion,
Would he have called thee so with love
And illuminated thee with the light of the Spirit?
And given thee life, whosoever to bear it with patience?
Would he have given thee prayer etc.

It is told me I must die:
Come on, my dearest soul;
O happy news!
There he is waiting in his home to kiss thee:
There he extended his arms to receive thee
In the arms of the true and proper cross:
Triumph, thy Jesus calls thee!
In his blood he opened his heart to give thee entrance:
Therefore he gave all his life to purchase life for thee.

It is told me I must die:
O what happy!
I go rejoicing
To the place of my rest;
To the land of the living:
To the haven of security;
To the kingdom of peace;
To the palace of my God;
To the nuptials of the lamb;
To sit at the table of my King:
To feed on the bread of angels:
To see what no eye hath seen;
To hear what no ear hath heard:
To enjoy what the heart of man cannot comprehend.

O my Father,
O thou best of all Fathers,
Have pity on the most wretched of all thy children!
I was lost, but by thy mercy found;
I was dead, but by thy grace am now raised again;
I was gone astray after vanity,
But I am now ready to appear before thee.
O my Father!
Come now in mercy, and receive thy child;
Give him thy kiss of peace:
Remit unto him all his sin;
Clothe him with thy nuptial robe;
Permit him to have a place at thy feast;
And forgive all those who are guilty of his death.