In Their Lifetimes

In their lifetimes their mark they may have made
But in time the greatest names from history fade
The long dead heroes we may well recall
But time is the one who does take care of all
We were learning from life before we learned to crawl
And to the reaper's scythe the greatest have to fall
The poet John Shirley wrote all are equal dead
And truer words than his perhaps not said
In their lifetimes they may have been seen as great
And even in death them we do celebrate
But time for them too did not seem to wait
Upon us all there is a use by date
And like all other life forms humans are born to die
And that applies to you as well as i.