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 heat its sadness,

And ease the burdens of each tring 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."

-Lanta Wilson Smith