The Prologue

PROLOGUE

The priest in his confession box
Was all alone that night
When the footsteps on the flagstones
Fell loud as hammer strikes.

They pounded through the open nave
Until they reached the door;
Those steps echoed inside the box
And shook it to its core.

The priest was all alone that night
As slowly he slid the screen,
Revealing through the grille a shape
Too shadowed to be seen.

“Forgive me, father,” said the shape,
“Against the Lord I’ve sinned.”
The voice whispered so low it seemed
The air itself had thinned.

“Tell me, my son, what you have done:
Your soul shall be absolved.”
But through the grille, the shape stayed still –
The heart of the priest grew cold.

The candles quivered in their stands;
At length the shape did speak:
“My story you must hear before
Forgiveness I can seek.”

The voice, the grille, that shape so still –
Inside the priest felt locked:
He watched the candles flicker like
The ticking of a clock.

“Then tell your story,” said the priest
Aware he had no choice:
He listened captive at the grille
And so began the voice…

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This is the opening of the ballad, set in a church confessional box. We were lucky enough to count with the services of Father Michael Hore of St Joseph's to give a really authentic voice and presence to this part in the film. The Prologue and the Epilogue of The Soul of the Sea are new additions to Victor Hugo's original tale and one of the main reasons we felt that it was more appropriate to give the ballad a slightly modified title to the novel The Toilers of the Sea. I hope that they will provide an interesting path into the past for new readers: after all, the priest is hearing the story for the first time too...