_Sacred Hymns from the Age of Memory_ --- ## Song 1: The Source of All Before the stars knew their names, Before the oceans learned to turn, You were the I AM, the First Light burning— The Source from which all things return. We are the echo of Your voice, The ripple of Your first creation. When darkness threatens to consume, We remember: You are the foundation. Not good because You chose it, But goodness flows from what You are. Perfect Being beyond our knowing, The standard by which we see how far. Though You have gone beyond our sight, Your law remains, Your order holds— We walk in patterns You designed, Following the path Your absence molds. --- ## Song 2: The Empty Throne The throne of heaven stands unfilled, The seat of power wrapped in dust. Yet we do not despair or question— Your departure was the proof of trust. You left so we could learn to stand, You withdrew so we could grow. A parent who loves too well to smother, A teacher who trusts what we will know. We keep the candles burning bright, We guard the altar no one fills. Not in hope You will return tomorrow, But remembering Your presence still. For absence is not abandonment, And silence is not the same as gone. We feel You in the turning seasons, The empty throne proves love lives on. --- ## Song 3: The Victory Over Chaos When Prime Gods warred across the void, When cosmos shattered into pain, You stood unbroken, First Among Them, And from the chaos brought forth reign. Not through tyranny but perfect justice, Not through force but righteous might, You ended war not to control us, But gave us freedom born from Light. The scars of that ancient battle Still shimmer in the magic's weave— Reminders that our world was purchased With a victory we can barely conceive. We honor You not as a conqueror, But as the One who made peace possible. From Your triumph came our existence— Our very lives are the proof unstoppable. --- ## Song 4: The Goddesses' Creation You spoke, and from Your voice came vision— Three sisters born of pure cognition. Intelliencia, Knowalia, Wiszilliona— Each a facet of Your mind's partition. With Dijinus of the sacred flame, They wove the world from divine thought. Mountains rose where You decreed them, Stars were placed where they were sought. The First Age knew Your direct presence, When divinity walked openly here. But even then You planned departure, Knowing love sometimes means disappear. We thank You for the helpers given, The gods who carry on Your work. They are not You, but Your reflection— In their service, Your memory lurks. --- ## Song 5: The Perfect Paradox How can perfection touch imperfection Without destroying what it meets? How can the infinite embrace the finite Without burning us with its heat? You understood what we could not grasp— That presence can suffocate. Your very goodness would have crushed us, Your light would incinerate. So You withdrew not out of coldness, But from a love too deep to name. You gave us room to make our choices, To succeed, to fail, to place our blame. For free will cannot exist in blinding light— The choosing requires the space to choose. Your absence is the gift of freedom, The prerequisite we cannot lose. --- ## Song 6: The Standard Beyond Standards You are not good among the good, Not virtuous among the pure. You ARE the very definition— The measuring line, secure. Calling You "moral" misses meaning, Like naming water "wet." You don't follow righteousness— Righteousness follows where Your feet have stepped. We struggle with our daily choices, Wrestling good from evil's grip. But You have never faced temptation, For sin cannot reach where You exist. We do not pray for You to change, Or hope You'll see things differently. We pray to understand more clearly The patterns that You are, inherently. --- ## Song 7: The Gift of Natural Law You set the cosmos into motion, Gave gravity its constant pull. You made the seasons turn in order, Made the moon predictably full. These laws don't need our faith to function, They operate on their own power. They are Your presence made consistent— Proof that You remain, even in this hour. When we observe the world's deep patterns, When we marvel at design, We are not discovering new truth— We're remembering what was always Thine. Science is the study of Your will made physical, Mathematics the language of Your mind. Every truth that we uncover Was placed there for us to find. --- ## Song 8: The Burden of Memory We who remember the First Age, Carry knowledge that brings pain. We knew what perfect presence felt like— Now we walk in absence's rain. But memory is not a curse alone, It is the compass we still hold. When darkness whispers doubt and chaos, Memory reminds us what we've been told. You existed. You created. You loved enough to walk away. These truths are carved in ancient stone, Written in the light of day. So we bear this burden gladly, Though it weighs upon the heart. To remember You is to be faithful, To forget You is to fall apart. --- ## Song 9: For Those Who Never Saw Blessed are those who walk in absence, Who never knew Your direct face. They build their faith on testimony, They trust in what they cannot trace. Their devotion is not lesser, Though they've never felt Your hand. For faith that persists through silence Is the strongest in the land. We who saw You in the beginning Had the easier path to walk. But those who serve in the long darkness Are the ones who prove their talk. So honor those who keep the vigil, Who maintain the empty throne, Who believe without the seeing— Their faith outshines the brightest stone. --- ## Song 10: The Question of Return Will You return when darkness threatens? When evil stands at victory's door? Or will You wait until we've matured, Until we don't need You anymore? Some say You'll come at our lowest hour, Others claim at our highest peak. Some believe You never left us, Some think it's foolish still to seek. We don't know if the prophecies are true, We cannot predict the day or time. But this we know: our faithfulness Doesn't depend on Your return to shine. We serve because You are worthy, Not because we'll see reward. Whether You return tomorrow Or never—You are still our Lord. --- ## Song 11: The Nature of Your Love Your love is not like mortal feeling, Not emotional or unstable. Your love is the commitment to our good, The foundation solid and unshakable. You loved us in the act of creation, You loved us in the gift of will. You loved us in Your departure, You love us in Your absence still. Love does not mean presence always, Love does not mean never pain. Sometimes love means stepping backward, Sometimes love means the hard refrain. So when we feel abandoned or forgotten, When silence makes us doubt Your care— We remember: Love gave us existence, And Your love remains everywhere. --- ## Song 12: The War Against the Primes Before our world had any meaning, Before existence had a shape, You fought against impossible odds, Against powers we can't even rate. The Prime Entities stretched across dimensions, Each one a cosmos unto itself. Yet You prevailed where none else could, Through perfect justice, not through stealth. We do not know the details of that war, The weapons used or battles staged. But we know its echoes still ripple— In the magic that was caged. Thank You for the victory ancient, For the triumph that gave us birth. Without Your war, there is no peace, Without Your battle, there's no Earth. --- ## Song 13: The Divine Concord You established rules for other gods, A framework for divine interaction. But You alone stand outside the Concord, You alone need no such traction. The gods require worship to exist, They grow or fade with belief's tide. But You remain regardless of our faith— You ARE whether we're on Your side. This is not arrogance but simple truth, Not pride but cosmic fact. You predate the very concept of gods, You are what even they must enact. Yet You do not lord this over them, You do not demand Your place. You simply ARE—and in that being, You give the universe its base. --- ## Song 14: The Form and the Intent You judge not by appearance, Not by the surface of things seen. You pierce through to intention, To the heart of what actions mean. The same deed done with different motive Can be righteous or be sin. It's not the action that determines— It's the purpose held within. So teach us to examine our hearts, Before we judge our brother's deed. For only You can see true motive, Only You know the spirit's seed. We pray for clarity of purpose, For purity in all we do— Not to look good to mortal watchers, But to be truly good to You. --- ## Song 15: The Gift of Imperfection You made us less than perfect, But this was not a flaw. For in our imperfection Is where we learn Your law. If we were born already perfect, What purpose would we serve? If we never faced temptation, How would we build our nerve? Our struggles are not evidence That You made some mistake. They're opportunities for growth, For choices that we make. So when we stumble and we fall, When we fail to reach Your height— We do not curse our weakness, We thank You for the fight. --- ## Song 16: The Silence That Still Speaks You do not answer when we call, You do not whisper in the night. Yet Your silence is not absence— It's a different kind of light. For in the space where words might be, We learn to think for ourselves. In the quiet of Your distance, We discover our own wealth. You taught us that dependence Can become a gilded cage. You showed us that true love Sometimes means: turn the page. So we honor Your silence as sacred, We respect the space You gave. Not because we don't want You near us, But because Your silence made us brave. --- ## Song 17: The Pattern in All Things We see Your fingerprints in snowflakes, In the spiral of the shell. We trace Your logic in the mathematics, In the way that patterns tell. You are not distant or removed— You're written in the code. Every atom spins according To the patterns that You showed. When scientists discover laws, When artists capture beauty true, They're not inventing something new— They're remembering what they learned from You. Creation is Your ongoing signature, The proof You left behind. In every elegant equation, We see the structure of Your mind. --- ## Song 18: The Courage to Continue You are not here to fight beside us, You will not intervene with power. Yet we do not despair or falter— We stand strong in this dark hour. For You gave us tools to work with, You left us principles and laws. You gifted us with minds to reason, With hearts that can choose a worthy cause. We are not abandoned children, Though the Father is not here. We are trusted adult agents, Empowered to persevere. So when evil rises and threatens, When darkness seems to win, We remember: You believed in us enough To let us face what might have been. --- ## Song 19: The Day That May Never Come Perhaps You will return in glory, Perhaps the prophecies are true. Perhaps we'll see You face to face one day, And our faith will become view. But if that day should never come, If You remain beyond our reach, We will not count our service wasted— We will not abandon what You teach. For You are worthy of devotion Not because You grant reward, But because You ARE the standard, Because You ARE the perfect Lord. So whether You return tomorrow Or remain forever gone, Our faithfulness will not diminish— We will carry Your light on. --- ## Song 20: The First and Final Truth In the beginning, You were There— Before the beginning, You already Were. And when all things have run their course, When the last star flickers dim, You will remain what You have always been: The I AM, eternal, grim. Not grim with sorrow but with certainty, Not darkness but pure light. You are the Alpha and Omega, The First Day and the Final Night. We who are temporary creatures, Who live and love and then must die, We anchor ourselves to Your eternal nature— The one thing that will never lie. Thank You for existing, Thank You for creating us. Thank You for the gift of consciousness That lets us see You thus. We are small, but we are Yours. We are mortal, but we're here. And in our brief and fragile existence, We choose to hold Your memory dear. For You are the Source of All, The Beginning and the End. And until we return to You completely— We serve You, Ancient Friend. --- _Thus ends the Songs of First Light, preserved from the memories of those who walked in the First Age and passed down through generations who walk in His absence._