"The King's Ring" (A Poem)

A newspaper editor, poet, and abolitionist, Theodore Tilton is best known for using his writing to raise support for abolitionism and the Union Army during the American Civil War. Although his poetic works have been overshadowed by his journalism, a few of his poems still maintain a hint of popularity, particularly “The King’s Ring” and its famous line. Derived from the Latin saying sic transit gloria mundi (which, beginning with Pope Alexander V, has been used in the papal coronation ceremonies since 1409)[1] the line has been quoted extensively following the poem's first publication, including a reference by Abraham Lincoln in his address to the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society on September 30, 1859.[2]

Once in Persia reigned a King,
Who upon his signet-ring
Graved a maxim true and wise,
Which, if held before his eyes,
Gave him counsel, at a glance,
Fit for every change or chance;
Solemn words, and these are they:
“Even this shall pass away.”

Trains of camels through the sand
Brought him gems from Samarcand;
Fleets of galleys through the seas
Brought him pearls to rival these.
But he counted little 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, “O loving friends of mine!
Pleasures come, but do not stay:
Even this shall pass away.”

Lady fairest ever seen
Was the bride he crowned the queen.
Pillowed on his marriage-bed,
Whispering to his soul, he said,
“Though no bridegroom never pressed
Dearer bosom to his breast,
Mortal flesh must come to clay:
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,
Gazing at his sculptured name,
Asked himself, “And 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,
Spake 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.”[3]

Works Referenced

Knowles, Elizabeth, ed. The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Lincoln, Abraham. "Address to the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society." The Essential Lincoln: Speeches and Correspondence. Ed. Orville Vernon Burton. New York: Hill and Wang, 2009. 65-72.

Tilton, Theodore. "The King's Ring." The Sexton's Tale and Other Poems. New York: Sheldon and Company, 1867. 45-48.

---

[1] Knowles. 
[2] Lincoln, 72.

[3] Tilton, 45-48.