Rite Of Finality

To give thanks and praise to the bough that breaks

Under the weight of age and passing days

To the song of the swan when one's time has come

Like passing clouds in the sky all must someday die

To falling leaves in autumn's shades the promise of

Youth that fades under the winter's waning sun

The wind and snow of a life now done

Like the tides retreating from tranquil shores

Cold lips that draw breath no more

To the shifting sands of time lost

Measured by star and frost

To scattered blossoms of spring this glory in which

We sing: o ephemeral passing life consumed in the

Funeral pyres consumed in our burning desires

Even these flames must expire

Abiding ash and splintered bone

Sodden earth and weathered stone

Right of finality devouring infinity

Works will come undone so as what we become

Unknowing certainty of that which sets us free

To the end of days to give thanks and praise