David Gawron writes:
This one lyric line (the favorite I've ever written) sums the song up:
"The broken shackles of humanity cannot compare at all to what lies ahead."
The song stems from the phrase in the rosary, which prompted me to think, "Hmm... what IS it like at the moment we die?" So the lyrics explore that theme, and all the potential emotions attached to that.
The verses were written rather easily, but I couldn't come up with a chorus, opposite of how I usually write. My housemate at the time (I was in graduate school at the
Franciscan University of Steubenville), Jim Moran, had a little tune he'd wander around humming sometimes. He didn't have words for it or or verse ideas, but it was a great tune. It is now the At The Hour chorus, and it works fantastically as a complement to the verses.
The verses are very pensive and melancholy, as we say goodbye to the corporal life we've known. The chorus is supposed to be the angels greeting us as we pass into eternity with our Lord Jesus.
An artist created two watercolor paintings to illustrate the lyrics:
At the Hour of Our Death
Words and Music by David Gawron
Time stands still from where I lay
I feel my life slippin’ away
The Holy Spirit breathes into me, O Lord
My bruised and battered soul is set free
In communion with all the angels and saints
I feel the Raw and Pure Energy
I feel the overwhelming desire, O Lord
Your hands lift me higher and higher
It’s only now that I realize
I see eternity in Your eyes
I’ve never been, but I feel like I’ve been here before
And into Heaven my soul soars
I think of all I did with my life
All the blessings, all of the gifts
All the sorrow, and all of the pain
But I pressed on, my love never strayed
My prayers are answered, my debt is paid
The broken shackles of humanity
Cannot compare to what lies ahead -- And I heard the word He said
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