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