THIS, TOO, SHALL PASS AWAY

 

          THIS, TOO, SHALL PASS AWAY

This, Too, Shall Pass Away is a  famous poem by Lanta Wilson Smith. She was born on July 19, 1856 at Castine, Main, and died on October 19, 1939 at Taunton, Massachusetts.

As a prolific  poet, she contributed her poems to many different publications including the Inter Ocean , Zion’s Herald and Ram’s Horn.

This, Too, Shall Pass Away is one of her most famous poems. Its theme is the transient nature of life. No event whether good or bad, sorrowful or joyous, is everlasting. Nothing stays in this world; everything comes for some time and then disappears. None  should, therefore, take any event as endless.

Let any situation, good or bad, glad or sad may come. We should always react with these words: “This, Too, Shall Pass Away.”  

     Here is the full text of the poem:

WHEN some great sorrow, like a mighty river,

Flows through your life with peace-destroying power,

And dearest things are swept from sight forever,

Say to your heart each trying hour:

“This, too, shall pass away.”

 

When ceaseless toil has hushed your song of gladness,

And you have grown almost too tired to pray,

Let this truth banish from your heart its sadness,

And ease the burdens of each dying day:

“This, too, shall pass away.”

 

When fortune smiles, and, full of mirth and pleasure,

The days are flitting by without a care,

Lest you should rest with only earthly treasure,

Let these few words their fullest import bear:

“This, too, shall pass away.”

 

When earnest labor brings you fame and glory,

And all earth’s noblest ones upon you smile,

Remember that life’s longest, grandest story

Fills but a moment in earth’s little while:

“This, too, shall pass away.”

                                    ***************

G.R.Kanwal

19^th June 2024