I close my book and put it down

I turn off the music

'Cause it's late

Here comes drowsiness, the little death...

ART, TIME, DEATH, IN ONE...

Huge books, illustrated with beautiful paintings

In halls with wonderful outlines

Dancing statues, intoxicated by music

God Himself is here

Delightful visions where are mixed

Arts of Time and Space...

But, alas ! God draws aside and let His place

To a river of sand and its glass dam

Here comes Time which everything erases

Books, paintings, even walls are cracking

Statues are falling, they break and stop

Music becomes silent, God has gone

The light drops, vision becomes cloudy

As the Sand river sweeps everything along

And then appear

What we all fear...

The vile skull with its hideous orbits

Here is Death

Human things seem to be really vain

My eyes suddenly open

And my mind shrieks in response

That if man cannot stop the hour-glass

His creations can slow down its stream