The Sai Thamë College Song
Make us gracious, make us true,
Fill our hearts with honor too,
Let us show the Nations we belong to you:
Our Lady of Harmony.Fill our hearts with sister-love
All about us and above,
Let us serve forever the Eternal Dove:
Our Lady of Amity.Though the road be long,
We'll continue on
By the light of thy shining Truth;And the love that binds
Both our hearts and minds
Shall make joyful our golden youth.Let us strive for good success,
In modesty and gentleness,
For to you we cannot ever offer less:
Our Lady of Harmony.
Play the Song
Take 1
Take 2
Commentary
Our Lady of Harmony Obviously refers to Sai Thamë, the Tutelary Janya of the College, and the mistress of Harmony and the Golden Order.However, we should also note that the formula "Our Lady of...", in both Aristasian and Tellurian contexts has a dual meaning, for it denotes at once a particular Janyatic (Angelic) Form and her oneness with Dea Herself. Thus, Our Lady of Harmony is at once Sai Thamë, and Dea under Her Aspect as the Head of the Golden Order of Being.
Our Lady of Amity in the second verse, of course refers to Sai Sushuri in the same Supernal context. Sai Sushuri is the sister of Sai Thamë, and it is often said that one cannot speak of one without the other. Thus the transition in the second verse is a natural one.
Fill our hearts with sister-love naturally refers to the Amity that binds the scholars and mistresses of a College, and I know some of you are already feeling the power of this overwhelmingly wonderful group-Amity. From an invocative point of view (and this song does have an invocative power), the call is to Sai Sushuri both as Love Herself and as Sister to Sai Thamë.
All about us and above: as in most School Songs, the "voice" is that of the scholars. The Heart radiates in all directions, and the Heart-Love of the scholars radiates both horizontally to their sister-scholars (sister-love) and vertically upward to their mistresses and prefects. In the case of mistresses and prefects it also, of course, radiates vertically downward and this is taken as implicit, but not stated here by the scholar-voice.
Let us serve forever the Eternal Dove: The Eternal Dove is primarily Sai Sushuri, but the Dove is also a symbol of both God the Mother and God the Daughter as you will recall from the words of the Filianic Service:
Great Dove of the waters that have brought forth the world from the matrix of Your being
Dove of the sacrifice that are crushed beneath the heel of death that You may come as our Saviour
Once again this underlines the nexus of the Divine and the Angelic implied in the formula "Our Lady of Amity".
Our Golden Youth: While the scholars of a School are generally young, this may not always be the case in a Lay College: however, just as we are all children of Dea, so scholars, in statu pupillari, are "young" by virtue of their "function". In a sense, "youth" is a term that may be applied to maiden-life as a whole, since our birth into incomplete being takes place, ultimately, for the sole purpose of learning to become complete.
From this perspective, the life of a College, like that of any other fully traditional institution (a Craft Guild for example, or a Knightly Order), manifests within its own particular "microcosm" a complete metaphor of the human state and its purposed fulfillment.
In concluding these remarks, I would stress that, while the side-notes are helpful for understanding the full meaning of this song, its fundamental thrust is the invocation of Order, Comeliness and Diligence for those who have the honor to follow the Path of Sai Thamë as her dedicated scholars and children.
See Also:An Introduction to the Aristasian Lay College
"Teenies" (teenaged personae) at Sai Thamë College
Return to Sai Thamë College