1 Must I leave home and fatherland,
And every charm and pleasure?
Leave honored name and high degree
Enjoyed in life's brief measure?
2 Leave beauty, strength, and wisdom, too,
All won in hard employment, -
All I have learnt, and all I've loved,
And all this world's enjoyment.
3 Can I evade the stroke of Death
That rends all ties asunder?
Do not his awful shambles gape
For me to be his plunder?
4 Ye gilded men would fain enjoy
The wealth your souls engrossing,
But ye must bow to him and go
The journey of his choosing.
5 Ye favored fair, whose lightest word
Has caused ten thousand errors,
Think not your garish, tinselled charms
Can blind the King of Terrors.
6 Ye who rejoice in heedless youth
And follow fleeting pleasures,
Know that ye cannot conquer Death
By valor, arts, or treasures.
7 Ye who exult in madding song
The giddy dances treading,
Think not that all the mirth of France
Can thwart the fate you're dreading.
8 Ye who have roamed the wide world o'er,
Where have ye found the tower,
With walls and portals strong enough
To check Death's awful power?
9 Statesmen and learned sages, all
Of godlike understanding,
What will your craft and skill avail?
'Tis Death who is commanding.
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