I know that death is coming
A dirge upon the walls
I hear its prelude drumming
Like an echo in the halls
I look at all this beauty
As the dawn becomes the night
While an anthem rings into me
And lingers in its light
This is the passage onward
It feels so vast and strange
A lonely little songbird
That sings of how things change
Sometimes it takes an instant
Sometimes it crawls along
A hymn that feels persistent
By the rhythm of its song
More natural than laughter
More certain than a storm
It’s just another chapter
In the book of being born
As death leaves us behind
We feel how deep it burns
In the verses of its rhyme
And the way its tempo yearns
When we look death in the eye
There is coldness in its glare
Then suddenly we realize
We too, must journey there
Behind this hidden veil
Lives more than just a grave
Where every soul must sail
And bring the love they gave
A token for the ferryman
A coin each soul must tithe
And once we journey there again
We lose the pitch of pride
So when our song is over
Its melody lives on
In the hymns of the composer
And the echo of His song
A holy composition
A requiem life brings
Where every soul must listen
To what death’s strain will sing