As a guilty culprit groaning,
Flushed my face, my errors owning,
Hear. O God, Thy suppliant moaning!
Thou to Mary gav'st remission,
Heard'st the dying thief's petition,
Bad'st me hope in my contrition.
In my prayers no worth discerning,
Yet on me Thy favor turning,
Save me from that endless burning!
Give me, when Thy sheep confiding
Thou art from the goals dividing.
On Thy right a place abiding!
When the wicked are rejected,
And by bitter flames subjected,
Call me forth with Thine elected!
Low in supplication bending.
Heart as though with ashes blending;
Cure for me when all is ending.
When on that dread day of weeping
Guilty man in ashes sleeping
Wakes to his adjudication,
Save him, God! from condemnation!
From the Latin of THOMAS À CELANO.
Translation of JOHN A. DIX. [A]
[Footnote A: General Dix's first translation of the "Dies Irae" was made in 1863; the revised version (given above) appeared in 1875. Bayard Taylor wrote of the earlier one: "I have … heretofore sought in vain to find an adequate translation. Those which reproduced the spirit neglected the form, and vice versa. There can be no higher praise for yours than to say that it preserves both.">[