Still Life
Citadel reverberates to a thousand voices, nowDumb:What have we become?What have we chosen to be?Now, all history is reduced to the syllables ofOur name-Nothing can ever be the same:Now the Immortals are here.At the time it seemed a reasonable courseTo harness all the forceOf life without the threat of death,But soon we found that boredom and inertiaAre not negative, but all the law we know,And dead are will and words like survival.
Arrival at immunity from all age, all fear andAll endWhy do I pretend?Our essence is distilledAnd all familiar taste is now drained,And though purity is maintainedIt leaves us sterile,Living through the millions of years,A laugh as close as any tear;Living, if you claim that allThat entails is breathing, eating, defecating,Screwing, drinking,Spewing, sleeping, sinking ever down and downAnd ultimately passing away timeWhich no longer has any meaning.
Take away the threat of death and all you'reLeft with is a round of make-believe.Marshal every sullen breath and though you'reUltimately bored by endless ecstasyIt's still the ring by which you hope to beEngagedTo marry the girl who will give you forever-It's crazy, and plainlyThat simply is not enough.
What is the dullest and bluntest of pains,Such that my eyes never close without feeling itThere?What abject despair demands an endTo all things of infinity?If we have gained, how do we now meet theCost?What have we bargained, and what have weLost?What have we relinquished, never even knowing itWas there?
What thoughts now of holding fast the line,Defying death and time?Everything we had is gone,Everything we laboured for and favoured moreThan earthly things reveals the hollow ringOf false hope and false deliverance.
But now the nuptial bed is made,The dowry has been paid:The toothless, haggard features of eternityNow welcome me between the sheetsTo couple with her withered body - my wife.Hers forever,Hers forever,Hers foreverIn still life.