Valediction Songtext

von Libitina

I watched death's shadow darken over you,
Gather you silently under its jealous view,
While I could only look on distraught,
Fighting to hold your live form in thought,
Knowing we will never meet again,
Knowing that time will never come again.
Safe times grow distant, days of few fears,
Intangible memory mockingly leers,
Once faceless, now death stares me in the eyes,
With this Earth I have lost another tie,
Knowing we will never meet again,
Knowing that time will never come again.

A valediction to those friends now lost and gone,
We've fought bravely but time has always won,
All that we can seek is dignity in retreat,
Acceptance of the fact of certain defeat,
I feel so mortal and as fragile as you,
Dust claims dust and that way we will all go,
Innocence is lost and can never be regained,
The act draws to its close, the play will start again.

In youth we imagined ourselves as gods,
All could be achieved, no matter the odds,
Immortal and worthy of sacrifice,
In our favour the Fates loaded the dice,
And they poured libations to our folly,
The pride of ever more distant glory.
For us was slaughtered the fatted calf
When the heavens thundered, we did laugh,
The whole world was ours for the taking,
The tension in the air of our own making,
And they poured libations to our folly,
The pride of ever more distant glory.

A valediction to those friends now lost and gone,
We've fought bravely but time has always won,
All that we can seek is dignity in retreat,
Acceptance of the fact of certain defeat,
I feel so mortal and as fragile as you,
Dust claims dust and that way we will all go,
Innocence is lost and can never be regained,
The act draws to its close, the play will start again.

So all is vanity, remember we are dust,
Everything we are and all we do must
Surely atrophy, collapse, and fall,
Though now we may stand so strong and tall,
The old alliances are soon forgotten,
With Olympian indifference the gods look on.
Soon upon us comes the death of dreams,
The rising dawn of the end of our time,
With it this mourning valediction
And the deadening loss of all conviction,
The old alliances are soon forgotten,
With Olympian indifference the gods look on.

A valediction to those friends now lost and gone,
We've fought bravely but time has always won,
All that we can seek is dignity in retreat,
Acceptance of the fact of certain defeat,
I feel so mortal and as fragile as you,
Dust claims dust and that way we will all go,
Innocence is lost and can never be regained,
The act draws to its close, the play will start again.