Rhythm, metre and tempo

There is no time signature.

Rhythm is always guided by the words and not by a regular pulse. The bar
lines mark the ends of lines in the poem.
Word setting is largely syllabic, although occasionally two notes are
slurred together to draw attention to important words.
The combination of simplicity and underlying sophistication reflects the

dual nature of the text an innocent little lamb, but a lamb who was slain
as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. This explains the bitter-sweet
dissonances, particularly the A minor 9 chords that appears at the words
such, all, Lamb and know in bars 7-10. (Tavener refers to it as his joysorrow chord.)