Anonymous Lyrics Of The Fifteenth Century
Timor Mortis
In what estate! so ever I be
Timor mortis conturbat me.
As I went on a merry morning,
I heard a bird both weep and sing.
This was the tenore of her talking:meaning
"Timor mortis conturbat me. "
I asked that bird what she meant.
"I am a musket- both fair and gent;gentle, noble
For dread of death I am all shent:ruined
Timor mortis conturbat me.
"When I shall die, I know no day;
What country or place I cannot say;
Wherefore this song sing I may:
Timor mortis conturbat me.
"[esu Christ, when he should die,
To his Father he gan say,began [to}
'Father,' he said, 'in Trinity,
Timor mortis conturbat me.'
"All Christian people, behold and see:
This world is but a vanity
And replete with necessity.
Timor mortis conturbat me.
"Wake I or sleep, eate or drink,
When I on my last end do think,death
For greate fear my soul do shrink:
Timor mortis conturbat me.
"God grant us grace him for to serve,
And be at our end when we sterve,die
And from the fiend he us preserve.Devil
Timor mortis conturbat me.