Ashes to Ashes, by David Bowie

It's been two decades since I first realized that sooner or later I was going to die. I remember the precise moment my childhood ended: I'd been playing Bowie's "Ashes to ashes" over and over, hoping I could get those lyrics straight. Something had me thinking David Bowie was talking to me (of all people!). There was a hidden message and all I had to do was figure it out. I'd been looking for answers without knowing the questions, like most of us do when we're young and sad. A great song was as good as any other place to look.
I never got half the song, (there wasn't a way to 'google' lyrics at that time). All I got was bits, loose lines which discovered a strange new feeling for my young self: melancholy.

...they got a message from the action man, I'm happy, hope you're happy too...
...I've never done good things, I've never done bad things, I've never done anything out of the blue...
...ain’t got no money and I ain’t got no hair...
...ashes to ashes...

As simple as those lines were, they made made me understand that time consumed people and their decisions as it did with vegetables left on the counter. It was the only other reference I had so I figured we were just big cabbages waiting to rot.
Time began to crawl over my skin, minutes felt like ages and I stopped being a child. In a very sweet way, I realized my own race to death had started.