This song is about how everything is transitory and the structuring of lines like "has gone, goes, and will go" or "of snow, of dew, and of smoke" reflects that. The truly underlying point seems to be that there's no point in mourning the dead since it's a "natural part of life" and it happens to everyone eventually. In that respect, I think it's actually a pretty happy song in that it doesn't encourage people to mope around and feel sorry for themselves.
This song is about how everything is transitory and the structuring of lines like "has gone, goes, and will go" or "of snow, of dew, and of smoke" reflects that. The truly underlying point seems to be that there's no point in mourning the dead since it's a "natural part of life" and it happens to everyone eventually. In that respect, I think it's actually a pretty happy song in that it doesn't encourage people to mope around and feel sorry for themselves.