These mortal coils by callused hands severed

Lives ending marked by the passage of hours

This grim vision to each of us tethered

The gates of Hades will all things devour

On waves of vertigo am I to lie?

Eyes shut dreading the grim reaper's approach

Hidden from shades drifting up in the sky

Trembling I witness the darkness encroach

Rolling fields green frozen pallid with snow

Carnations, our seeds from fertile lands grown

And the lonely grave, to there must I go

With life's simple pleasures all still unknown?

Have bluebirds past as I sat here in thrall

Watching the shadows that play on my wall?