The Death Minstrel - Procession

Come thou, thou last one, whom I recognize

Unbearable pain throughout this body’s fabric:

As I in my spirit burned, see, I now burn in thee:

The wood that long resisted the advancing flames

Which thou kept flaring, I now am nourishing and burn in thee

My gentle and mild being through thy ruthless fury

Has turned into a raging hell that is not from here

Quite pure, quite free of future planning, I mounted

The tangled funeral pyre built for my suffering

So sure of nothing more to buy for future needs

While in my heart the stored reserved kept silent

Is it still I, who there past all recognition burn?

Memories I do not seize and bring inside

O life!

O living!

O to be outside!

And I in flames.

And no one here who knows me …