(Soft, aching violin swells over a deep, resonant hum)
(The distant, heartbeat-like thump of a muted drum)
Oh, the silence is heavy tonight
The stars have turned their faces away
I am searching for a reason in the dark
But the shadows only hold my grief
You left without a word to say
The sun was bright, the sky was wide
Then suddenly the color drained from the world
And left me standing on the broken side
How can a life just vanish like a ghost?
A flick of a candle in a gale
I’m reaching out to touch what I’ve lost
But the air is thin and my heart is frail
Oh, Death, why are you so cold?
Why do you steal the stories yet untold?
You come like a thief in the dead of the night
Snuffing the flame, hiding the light
It’s so sudden, it’s so deep
Leaving us here with promises to keep
Oh, Death, you are cruel and you are vast
Turning our future into a hollow past
I hear your voice in the rustle of the leaves
I see your shadow in the morning haze
The void you left is a canyon in my chest
A labyrinth of sad and lonely days
Everything moves, yet I am standing still
Watching the clock tick away the time
Trying to reconcile your final will
With the mountain of sorrow that I have to climb
Oh, Death, why are you so cold?
Why do you steal the stories yet untold?
You come like a thief in the dead of the night
Snuffing the flame, hiding the light
It’s so sudden, it’s so deep
Leaving us here with promises to keep
Oh, Death, you are cruel and you are vast
Turning our future into a hollow past
(Trumpet wails softly, low and blue)
Is it a journey, or just a final sleep?
Is there a secret that the silence keeps?
My questions fall into the empty ground
And wait for an echo that can’t be found
I’m searching for meaning in the gray
But the light just fades further away
They say that time will heal the jagged edge
That memory softens the hardest stone
But tonight I am standing on the ledge
Of a world that feels so very much alone
I will carry your name like a sacred prayer
Whispered to the wind and the fading stars
Though you are gone and the house is bare
I’ll hold onto the ache and the healing scars
Oh, Death, why are you so cold?
Why do you steal the stories yet untold?
You come like a thief in the dead of the night
Snuffing the flame, hiding the light
It’s so sudden, it’s so deep
Leaving us here with promises to keep
Oh, Death, you are cruel and you are vast
Turning our future into a hollow past
(Violin fades into a single, sustained note)
Rest now, under the velvet sky
I’ll keep the vigil, I’ll keep the cry
Until the morning, until the end
Goodbye, my dear, goodbye my friend
(Final, hollow drum beat)
(Silence)