Life is like a lie

Sometimes we frown and sometimes we smile

But either way’s as good as a lie

We feel very real, every once in a while

But: we have yet begun to die

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From the day of birth

Whether we’re rich or we’re poor

We march on with equal worth

For the king and the whore

And those who feel grief and those feel mirth

Each breath’s a step toward’s death’s door

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So if we seem alive and kickin’

Remember we’re temporary

For all we know we could sicken

And pass away before next January

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None of us are permanent

We’re on borrowed time, it’s true

We’ll beg another day and plead with the firmament

But when our grace period’s up, Death will collect his due

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For we are merely water and flesh and calcium phosphate

A network of bone and soft tissue

We may get wound up and we may celebrate

We may shed tears over the hard issues

But these are just the ways we animate

A life-mask we will one day eschew

Then our matter will return to a free state, with a clean slate

And for some that’s a tough truth to chew

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But life’s mask looks like movement and dance

So you might as well seize some joy before you’re through

Yesterday’s gone but tomorrows a chance

To start it up, fresh and new

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The music I had stuck in my head while writing: