"The Lost Chord" (1877)
Words by Adelaide Procter, 1825-1864
Music by Arthur Seymour Sullivan, 1842-1900

1.
Seated one day at the organ,
I was weary and ill at ease,
And my fingers wandered idly
over the noisy keys;
I know not what I was playing,
Or what I was dreaming then,
But I struck one chord of music,
Like the sound of a great Amen,
Like the sound of a great Amen.

2.
It flooded the crimson twilight,
Like the close of an angel's Psalm,
And it lay on my fever'd spirit
With a touch of infinite calm;
It quieted pain and sorrow,
Like love overcoming strife;
It seem'd the harmonious echo
From our discordant life:
It link'd all perplexed meanings
Into one perfect peace,
And trembled away into silence,
As if it were loth to cease.
I have sought, but I seek it vainly,
That one lost chord divine,
Which came from the soul of the organ,
And entered into mine,

3.
It may be that death's bright angel
Will speak in that chord again;
It may be that only in heav'n
I shall hear that grand Amen;
It may be that death's bright angel
Will speak in that chord again;
It may be that only in heav'n
I shall hear that grand Amen.