Soliloquy: O Tixo, Tixo, Help Me!

Lyrics

[VOICE, spoken] Stephen, if you want Absalom to live, tell him to plead not guilty.  [STEPHEN] What have I come to here at this crossing of paths? Must he tell a lie and live, or speak truth and die? And if this is so, what can I say to my son? O Tixo, Tixo, help me! Often when he was young, I have come to him and said "Speak truly, evade nothing What you have done, let it be on your head" And he heeded me not at all Like rain he ran through my hands Concealing, as a boy will Taking what was not his, evading commands For he seemed to hear none of my words Turning, shifting, he ran Through a tangle of night and days 'Til he was lost to my sight And ran far into evil and evil ways And he was stricken and struck back And he loved And he was desperate with love and fear and anger And at last he came to this O God of the humble and broken O God of those who have nothing, nothing, nothing, to this! To the death of a man To the death of a man A man he had given to death Then my words came back to him, and he said "I shall do no more evil, tell no more untruth I shall keep my father's ways and remember them" And can I go to him now and say, "My son, take care Tell no truth in this court, lest it go ill with you here Keep to the rules. Beware!" And yet if I say again, "It shall not profit a man If he gain the whole world and lose his own soul" I shall lose Absalom then! I shall lose Absalom then! (spoken) I must find some other way Some other hope My son did not mean to kill his son Did not mean to kill (sung) O Tixo, Tixo, help me! (spoken) What can I do? To whom can I appeal? (sung) O Tixo, Tixo, help me! (spoken) Where can I turn now? (sung) O Tixo, Tixo, help me!