Memento Mori

The hum of life resounds through
Crashing waves upon the shore
Like a maestro tempting music 
Toward the swell of a crescendo

I sit alone before this symphony
Surrounded by the sounds of life
Singing softly my own song:
“Remember that you must die”

My lyrics caress the crowd
As they dance alongside death
With glasses raised and spirits high
Reveling in opulence 

Grand feasts of bread and wine,
Glistening gems and pearls and gold,
A familiar scene set by the
Greedy hands clasped ‘round my own

Fingers stained by fruit and berry
Jeweled with rubies red as blood
Reach relentlessly for riches 
No care for those being taken from

They taunt me with their treasures
Wearing lives around their necks
Oblivious to mortality
Shameless with indulgence

But melodies must reach an end
The final note, the final breath
In the silence of still waters
Lives the memory of death