Act I: King of the Franks (feat. Phil S. P.)

Einhart, 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 all are waiting for you now In the eternal kingdom where we are at last all are Finally, you can look back Upon your many great deeds Like your fathers before you Have been planted the seeds The consummation of your ancestor ambitions Is the founding of a great empire of Christian nations Father, does my brother Carloman wait for me? And my mother, Bertha Who with goodwill and diplomacy Did all in her power To keep the peace How was Aquitaine The first uprising of my reign? I ran those usurping traitors into the sea Did I please our Lord Jesus When I united our peoples with his faith? The Saxons ever a plague on our lands The Lombards that vile race They would have desecrated his church And all that we hold dear But I led them to redemption In Christ, the Savior Oh father, this oath I swear That I shall fight to keep the law In all of Francia and beyond To heathen fields and Saxon hordes Who would tread upon the sacred place of ours Shall learn to fear The name of Charlemagne One that will be without peer Even long after I am gone! Charlemagne! Charlemagne! A shaft of light in a dark age! For now he is the King of the Franks And??? of men, over ranks Honor and tribute to him will pay And whose enemies shall be cast away 'Cause now he has inherited the throne The youngest, truesome king into his home Carloman, my dear brother We grew apart But my love for you did not impass You let the plotters turn your head against me Our dear mother Tried to foster harmony But you were hungry for more influence and power Why did you not listen to her? I forgive, for you were young Ambitious for your people And your court was advising Against me on principle I see you now playing by the stream Playing with your little boats And as a prince on horseback And then a king riding out across the moat And then old father Now he is dead How his widow and children Weap by his bed Now I am ruler of all your empire But 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 being besieged by the Saracen But holding firm above the Christian kings of Spain The Frankish might push 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 law In all of Francia and beyond To heathen fields and Saxon hordes Who would tread upon the sacred place of ours Shall learn to fear The name of Charlemagne One that will be without peer Even long after I have passed! Charlemagne! Charlemagne! A shaft of light in a dark age! For now he is the King of the Franks And??? of men, over ranks Honor and tribute to him will pay And whose enemies shall be cast away 'Cause now he has inherited the throne The youngest, truesome king into his home Charlemagne (prayer): Oh dear God in heaven I beseech you That I might see the face of everyone of those 4,000 heads Which i have cut from the bodies of those Saxons Who offended you That they and I might be forgiven By your mercy Lord God Maker of Heaven and Earth King of Kings Please have mercy on my soul Amen