Dying of the Light

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Author Notes:
As each year approaches and falls away, our awareness of mortality becomes more and more pronounced.  While some eventually embrace the warm invitation of the afterlife, there are others like myself who will grip each ray of light if only to steal moments away from our inevitable fate.

[intro]
Barefoot on the brittle coals of time, I stood —
Unaware the blaze behind me waned for good.
Youth once cloaked me like the sky at dawn —
Now dusk unveils the truth I leaned upon.

[verse 1]
There was thunder in our marrow, wild and free,
Our laughter carved in living bark and memory.
But seasons turned with neither sound nor grace —
And left a man in place of that younger face.

[pre-chorus]
I drank from days too rich to comprehend,
Now sip the dregs and call them friend.
Reflections blur in time’s slow tide,
And what was bold now tries to hide.

[chorus]
I am clinging to the dying of the light,
Knuckles white, as if breath could slow the night.
The stars no longer shimmer — they retreat,
As age lays siege against silence at my feet.
And still I grasp, though nothing holds me tight,
Against the hush that comes before the night.

[verse 2]
I bartered dreams for wages, traded fire for stone,
Built walls to keep the world, and died alone.
Each vow I spoke now echoes without sound,
A windless bell in ground that’s never found.

[bridge]
O, what is life but a lantern spent in rain?
The wax runs dry — we beg for flame in vain.
Yet even as the hours bend and break,
I reach for what the shadows cannot take.

[final chorus]
I am clinging to the dying of the light,
With every heartbeat dimmer than the last rite.
Though morning will not rise for me again,
I rage in stillness, I weep and say amen.
The years, they take — and still I hold on tight,
A breathless prayer against the fall of night.

[outro]
So let them come, those quiet, closing years —
But know I stood, despite the hush and falling tears.
Not for fear, nor for glory’s empty fading gleam…
But for the sacred ache within my soul for one last dream.

[fade to end]

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