The Sickness Unto Death

Old man in a rocking chair
You wake up, you’ve been living alone
After all these years
Surrounded by these shards of mirrors
And how’d it get so quiet here?
You wonder, «Where did everyone go?»
You tried so hard to make people remember you for something that you were not
And if they so remember you then something else will certainly get forgotten
Life is for the living
I’ve heard tell that it is why we are young
In the morning sun
You take every year as it comes
But when your life is over
All those years fold up like an accordion
They collapse just like a broken lung
Now I’ve only got one organ left and this old bag of bones
It is failing me
I try to tell people that I’m dying only they don’t believe me
They say, «We're all dying,» that we’re all dying
But if you are dying, why aren’t you scared?
Why aren’t you scared like i’m scared?
I read somewhere that when you face eternity, you’ll face it alone
Not matter what you thought or what you had or you had not
Unless you put yourself in God
But tell me, God, oh where did you go?
Every bitter night into an empty room, I plead my case
Every night I pray that in the morning when I wake
I’ll be in a familiar place and I’ll find that I’m recovered and I’m sane
And I’ll remember everything
I’ll remember what I was like before that bug bit me
And when I have my childhood back
I’ll tear every page out of my book
And place them in an urn
And strike a match and watch them burn
Then I’ll hold the front cover
Against the back cover and look
You’ll see
Eternity will smile on me