Paroles
1. A mother sat by Matta’s sea,
Though long the sun had set :
Her head was resting on her knee
Her cheek with tears was wet.
“Ah ! where”, I asked, “is that fair child
Who sported round you free and wild
As ocean in its flow ?
She pointed up wards to the sky :
And answered only with a sigh
In Paradiso,
In Paradiso.
2. “He left me here alone”, she said, “my bright, my lovely boy :
The infant from his mother fled
To dwell in endless joy.
He’ll sport no more beside the sea :
He’ll never smile again on me
Whilst I am here below
Angels have borne him from the tomb,
A spotless flow’r again to bloom
In Paradiso …
In Paradiso …
3. I mourn not that he passed away :
Nor light his patron’s shrine :
No masses for his soul I say,
Nor useless garlands twine
For as I sit up on the strand,
When waves come rippling o’er the sand
And light winds softly blow see him ‘midst the cherub throng !
Hear my infants heav’nly song
In Paradiso,
In Paradiso.
