There she lies as pale as death

Has blown its bitter acid breath

Color no more upon that face

No more to touch and turn and taste

But silence reigns her weary world

Where all her sobs and sorrows sent

To twist and turn and weave and play

And slash their knives through this lament

For there she lies as pale as doom

Has lapped its shores across this room

The river of death with torrents wide

To sweep my soul if I abide

To seep away under this door

If I should scream and fight and roar

For life is what governs

Life is what gives

Life is what measures

Life is what lives

Still there she lies as pale as the morn

To salve me bleeding tossed and torn

To heal my bruised and wounded heart

To promise we may never part

For remember my love, my dear my dove

As husband is husband

As a wife is a wife

As the rain is water

A life is a life

Life can breed frailty Life can halt breath

But life is opposed to the alternative:

Death.