Curled beneath a leaf lies the adder
In solitude it awaits the day
Something in this world will be sadder
When finally it comes out to play
On smooth scales death stalks the world of life
It adds to the world a symmetry
This should not be mistaken for strife
Death does not ask for our sympathy
The adder bows to an autocrat
The victim’s life it does not appraise
Its simply death’s little diplomat
Indifferent with an ice-cold gaze
Slipping from its lair without clatter
Comes a most quiet little creeper
The calm of the dawn it will shatter
No one’s keeper, this little reaper
Every morning the day comes anew
Yet with watchful eye, death lays frozen
This diplomat will make his debut
The little victim has been chosen
With all its quiet calm composure
Moving now to claim its property
Gliding without any disclosure
In its purposeful simplicity
Oh little diplomat, please beware
You are not the only one, you see
Death could be stalking from anywhere
From the grass, the air, a tree, and me
All life brings death’s message to the world
This approach will be strictly enforced
Around every morning death is curled
Life and death, never to be divorced
