Huge cataclysms crash in the abyss,

stars die, compacted to a single point;

death does the universe anoint

no tepid hope avoids nor terrors miss.

Death establishes mortality

for all, for all contingent being;

for what is seen and who is seeing.

It ends our little span, our short reality.

It’s shadow falls across the years

and prompts us act, lest time be past

our appointed hour too short to last

we hurry, energized by sudden fears

A firm pillar of our being is death

which starts the very moment we take breath.