"Like a pale moon in a sunny sky

Death gazes down as I pass by"

as Billy Bragg puts it in Tank Park Salute.

The first verse goes

Kiss me goodnight and say my prayers
Leave the light on at the top of the stairs
Tell me the names of the stars up in the sky
A tree taps on the windowpane
This feeling smothers me again
Daddy, is it true that we all have to die?

At the top of the stairs is darkness
At the top of the stairs...is darkness.

It's fifty years ago today that my mother died.