Even This Shall
Pass Away
|
Once in Persia
reigned a King
Who upon his signet ring
Graved a maxim
true and wise,
Which, if held
before the eyes,
Gave him counsel
at a glance,
Fit for every
change and chance.
Solemn words,
and these are they:
"Even this shall pass away."
Trains of camel
through the sand
Brought his gems
from Samarcand;
Fleets of galleys
through the seas
Brought him pearls to match with these.
But he counted not his gain
Treasures of the
mine or main;
"What is wealth?"
the king would say;
"Even this shall pass away."
In the revels of his court
At the zenith of the sport,
When the palms
of all his guests
Burned with clapping
at his jests;
He amid his figs and wine,
Cried: "Oh loving
friends of mine!
Pleasure comes but
not to stay;
Even this shall pass away."
Fighting on a furious field,
Once a javelin
pierced his shield;
Soldiers with a loud lament
Bore him bleeding
to his tent;
Groaning from his
tortured side,
"Pain is hard to bear,"
he cried,
"But with patience,
day by day,�
Even this shall pass away."
Towering in the
public square,
Twenty cubits in the air,
Rose his statue,
carved in stone,
Then, the king,
disguised, unknown,
Stood before his
sculptured name
Musing meekly,
"What is fame?
Fame is but a slow decay�
Even this shall pass away."
Struck with palsy,
sere and old,
Waiting at the gates of gold,
Said he with
his dying breath;
"Life is done,
but what is death?"
Then, in answer
to the King,
Fell a sunbeam on his ring,
Showing by a heavenly ray,
"Even this shall pass away."
� Theodore Tilton
Dear friends, do you have these things that keep you away from worshipping the risen Lord? Perhaps you need to accept Christ and let the motto for your problems be; "Even this shall pass away!"
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