Dance with the Death [Halloween]

[Spoken Intro] "hehe... schon wieder dieses Halloween. Jedes Mal machen die Menschen so einen Lärm..." [sound FX: distant party, laughter, glasses clinking] "Dabei komm ich doch immer, wenn wieder wer sein Leben lässt." "Also wieso feiern die dieses Halloween?" "Aaaarrggg... ich halt's nicht aus." [Verse 1] Another night, another masquerade Another thousand faces in the dark Everybody dressed like something dead While I'm the one who knows where endings starts They point at me and love my clothes They tell me that my costume's great I almost laugh, I almost leave But somehow I decide to stay So pour another glass Let the music shake the floor Tonight they celebrate the thing They've never understood before [Pre-Chorus] And for a little while I forget what I have seen I let the living pull me in I let myself believe [Chorus] So let me dance beneath the dying light Let me laugh among the living tonight For once I don't want to be the one Who comes when somebody's story is done Let the music play Let the old world disappear Tonight I'm just another stranger Standing somewhere here [Verse 2] Then I found him sitting there An old man with a cup of mead He looked at me and raised his glass Like he'd been waiting there for me He smiled and said "Look how beautiful it all became" He told me about the war The years of rebuilding after the flames "I have two daughters Petra and Katrin And now I've got a grandson Christian" He smiled And for the first time that night I didn't know what I should say [Verse 3] He turned to me and asked "Do you have children too?" I smiled beneath the hollow bone "So many, my friend More than I could ever count" He laughed "And are they happy?" I looked down at my hands "Like a boss With far too many employees" He laughed again Then everything became quiet [Bridge] He looked at me and whispered "Tell me something..." "Do you think my life was worth it?" [Long pause] I looked into his eyes And for once I didn't need to think "Nothing is more worth living Than having lived" [Final Dance] [The WALZER returns for their final joyful dance, beautiful and bittersweet. Sudden stop when he collapses, isolated heartbeat and silence.] I held my bones out "Come on, my friend" "Let's dance one more time" And he stood up laughing Like he was young again We danced beneath the fading lights Two shadows moving through the night He laughed I smiled And for one beautiful moment There was no death [Sudden silence] [sound FX: single heartbeat] [The Fall] "Is it time now?" I reached my hand toward him He took it without hesitation His fingers held mine While his body stayed behind [Final Chorus] Time is everywhere, my friend It was there before our first hello It waits beside us at the end And never asks us where to go So don't be afraid Don't look behind You lived your life You made it mine And now, my friend We've got all the time in the world [Outro] [sound FX: distant Halloween party returning] [Laughter] [Music] [People celebrating] [The same party from the beginning] [But now it sounds impossibly far away] [Final dialogue almost whispered, minimal piano and cello. Final emotional crescendo: full WALZER orchestra returns, overwhelming, heartbreaking and cinematic, vocal nearly breaking, then complete silence.] "Feiert ruhig weiter..." [pause] "Ich bleib noch ein bisschen bei ihm." [sound FX: soft heartbeat fading into silence] [END]