Memento Mori

Standing still you hear drums are beating faraway
While it's getting closer angst is growing every day.

The grim saraband
The black rondo
The frantic jig.

For the young and the old
Both the starved and the crowned
All are taken away to a sudden end.

What we are, they were
Those who lie in their graves
May the worms and decay be our common fate.

Yesterday was time to dance footloose upon the earth
Now you can't refuse to give up all things of worth
No time for contrite regrets, no more bitter cries
Now come, for everyone must finally die.

Crooked bones lead the dance
Doomed ones coerced to prance
The noisy scream of pipes
Bring them to their demise.

Here they are the still and silent
Ossuary residents
Ironic naked teeth
Smiling at our deep conceit.

How unworthy our concerns are
Tempers, pledges and desires
As bodies buried, nothing lasts
This is where the sad truth lies.

Crowded skulls as a looking-glass
The whole world is a charnel house
Lively corpses on respite
Behind beauty, decay hides.

Beware to not being caught off guard
Gloomy tragedy of a lifetime marred.

We don't know when we'll take our last breath
There's no reprieve for the dance of death.

When will come the final breath?
No reprieve for the dance of death.