Charles the Great Lyrics

Einhard gather near... come hither to my bedside

The hour that I must retire is drawing ever near

From the exigencies of this life

My deeds laid out before your eyes

And my conscience must be clear.

Charles my dear son the time has now come

The House of Arnulf had produced the heir and son

To lead the faithless where we are all waiting for you now

In the eternal kingdom where we at last are one.

Finally you can look back upon your many great deeds

Like your fathers before you have been planted the seeds

The consummation of your ancestors' ambitions

The founding of a great empire of Christian nations.

Father, this oath I swear that I shall fight to keep the Lord

In all of Francia and beyond

To heathen fields and Saxon hordes

Who would tread upon a sacred place of ours?

Shall learn to fear the name of Charlemagne

One that will be without peer even long after I have gone

Charlemagne, oh Charlemagne

A shaft of light in a Dark Age

For now he is the King of the Franks

Standing tall above men of all ranks

Homage and tribute to him will pay

And all his enemies shall be cast away

'Cause now he has inherited the throne

The young prince who soon came into his own.

Carloman, my dear brother, we grew apart

But my love for you did not depart.

You let the plotters turn your head against me

And then... oh father! Now he is dead...

How his widow and children weep by his bed

Now I am ruler of all your empire

And I am... alone in the adventure

But you came to me, father,

I feel not on my own

And guided me on my sword

As sure as on my throne.

And now you are being besieged by the Saracen,

But holding firm are the Christian Kings of Spain

The Frankish might pushed them back south

'Cross the mountains to form the Spanish March.

And what of the other pagan tribes

Who disrespected His Holy See?

They knelt before him and gave back that

Which they had taken from The Holy City.

Oh Father, this oath I swear that I shall fight to keep the Lord

In all of Francia and beyond

To heathen fields and Saxon hordes

Who would tread upon a sacred place of ours?

Shall learn to fear the name of Charlemagne

One that will be without peer even long after I have gone

Charlemagne, oh Charlemagne

A shaft of light in a Dark Age

For now he is the King of the Franks

Standing tall above men of all ranks

Homage and tribute to him will pay

And all his enemies shall be cast away

'Cause now he has inherited the throne

The young prince who soon came into his own.

Charlemagne, oh Charlemagne

A shaft of light in a Dark Age

For now he is the King of the Franks

Standing tall above men of all ranks

Homage and tribute to him will pay

And all his enemies shall be cast away

'Cause now he has inherited the throne

The young prince who soon came into his own.

by Rivendell2003 º2015º