1. Though The Servers May Fall
Though The Mountains May Fall, Dan Schutte.
- Stanza 1, line 3: BOFH = Bastard Operator From Hell
2. I Could Open My Source Forever
I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever, Martin Smith.
3. Everlasting Strife
Psalm 118(119); tune by either Marty Haugen or David Haas.
4. Es ist das Filter kommen her
Es ist das Heil uns kommen her, Paul Speratus; anonymous German tune, 15th Century.
5. We Are His Minions
We Are His People, Jan Michael Joncas.
6. All The Ends Of Your Base
Psalm 97(98); tune by Marty Haugen and David Haas.
7. Awesome Squad
Awesome God, Rich Mullins.
This composition describes a battle in either the Warhammer 40,000 wargame, or the related computer real-time strategy simulation Dawn Of War.
8. A solis ortus cardine
Paean Alphabeticus de Christo, Caelius Sedulius. Tune is third-mode plainchant, ca. 5th Century, or Christum wir sollen loben schon, Martin Luther.
Much of the computer-related vocabulary was taken from this delightful list. Certain modifications were made.
Translation of stanza 3: Why, impious spammer, spewest thou / Thy filth to stain my inbox now? / Viagra I wish not to buy, / Nor watches fake, however fly!
- Stanza 1, line 3: A third-declension noun hacer, hacris is posited for English hacker.
- Stanza 2: The image of the mouth of the Ethernet switch open in the middle of the data center is derived from the introit In medio ecclesiae.
- Stanza 2, line 2: It was difficult to decide whether aethernet should be undeclined or third-declension; for meter's sake I kept it undeclined.
- Stanza 2, line 4: The proposed second-declension noun bitus, biti did not sit as well with me as a third-declension bit, bitis.
- Stanza 3, line 1: A first-conjugation verb spamare, to spam, is posited, with noun of agency spamator.
- Stanza 3, line 3: Viagra makes a fine first-declension noun unmodified.
- Stanza 4, line 1: Fortunatus' hymn O gloriosa Domina provided some inspiration for the opening line
- Stanza 4, line 2: Linux, Linicis is posited on the basis of Unix, Unicis as given in the aforementioned vocabulary list.
- Stanza 4, line 4: It was perhaps ungracious of me to transpose the name of the Evil Empire's capital city into my favorite declension, the third, but it sounds right.
- Stanza 5, line 1: Many sources give virus, viri as a second-declension neuter in the otherwise masculine -us group. The problem, of course, is that all forms of this noun except the nominative singular collide with vir, viri. A transplant is thus effected, and virus becomes fourth-declension.