If your darker side peeks through more oft than naught like mine does, you may find this interesting. While doing research with another author for period music (mid to late Victorian) I ran across this English translation of a poem which inspired the French composer, Camille Saint-Saens to write one of my favorite pieces of music, “Danse Macabre”:
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Zig, zig, zig, Death in cadence,
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Striking a tomb with his heel,
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Death at midnight plays a dance-tune,
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Zig, zig, zag, on his violin.
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The winter wind blows, and the night is dark;
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Moans are heard in the linden trees.
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White skeletons pass through the gloom,
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Running and leaping in their shrouds.
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Zig, zig, zig, each one is frisking,
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You can hear the cracking of the bones of the dancers.
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A lustful couple sits on the moss
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So as to taste long lost delights.
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Zig zig, zig, Death continues
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The unending scraping on his instrument.
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A veil has fallen! The dancer is naked.
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Her partner grasps her amorously.
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The lady, it’s said, is a marchioness or baroness
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And her green gallant, a poor cartwright.
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Horror! Look how she gives herself to him,
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Like the rustic was a baron.
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Zig, zig, zig. What a saraband!
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They all hold hands and dance in circles.
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Zig, zig, zag. You can see in the crowd
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The king dancing among the peasants.
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But hist! All of a sudden, they leave the dance,
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They push forward, they fly; the cock has crowed.
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Oh what a beautiful night for the poor world!
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Long live death and equality!