Текст песни Perish - Cohen

Death is a sacrifice
Involuntary or arbitrary
A sacrifice of sacred flesh
One for you, and those you forget

All that's absolute
About my perception of death
Is that it takes a lot from you
Giving little in return
I rest assured that it's bound to hurt
And give grief opportunity to birth

Death is a sacrifice
Involuntary or arbitrary
A sacrifice of sacred flesh
With nothing reserved on earth
Just space for two burial plots
One for you, and those you forgot

Space cleared for anguish
Time allotted
For recollection of dreams
Pleasantries
And distant memories
Now given new purpose
In place of what used to be

We're expected to surrender
And swallow our pride
Comfort our blood
And just say our goodbyes
Lest we forget to move on
Before the mourning process
Extends for too long

What am I more afraid of?
Death himself
Or leaving before
I've fulfilled my dreams?
Won't it be my fault
If I hadn't been mindful
Of my time here in this place
And I die too empty to bleed?

You can die at any given moment
If I were observing my end
Out of frame (Out of frame)
Would I be proud
If I knew despite my pain
I did my best in this life
And kept a smiling face?

I don't know

If I didn't succeed
Or achieve the archetype of success
Would it even be pertinent
If I wasn't here to reflect?

We're left to introspect with fate's intent
To give a new perspective
But that fixed lens
Has remained the same tint
Since I watched my grandfather
A warm but stoic man
Weep as he knew that was the last time
He would hold his wife's hand

That flatline robbed us at gunpoint
But if we remember to forgive
May we meet again on a street of gold
As in all the stories that we've been told
But wishful thinking is growing old

What am I more afraid of?
Death himself
Or leaving before I've fulfilled my dreams
Won't it be my fault
If I hadn't been mindful
Of my time here in this place
And I die too empty to bleed?

It's taken two decades
For me to live in the moment
And revere what I have
While we're both still above

I'm tired of it taking losing people
To learn about love

I am human
I am finite
So it's time
I start to cherish
The things I know may flourish
As can I
But are soon
Destined to perish