The Wheel of Time

While we are on this rolling Wheel, And round and round are swiftly whirl'd, Let us consider that its motion Will land us in another world. Where are our Fathers and our Mothers, Who lately here on earth were found? Where are our Friends and our Acquaintance— Are they not laid beneath the ground? This Wheel of Time, tho' unobserv'd By us, has swept them all away; We by its motion too are hurried, And soon the summons must obey! May we, tho' at the midnight hour, Cock crowing, or the morn, be found, When the pale herald shall be sent us, Prepar'd to tread yon heav'nly ground. Days, weeks and months, roll swiftly on, Oft unobserv'd by mortal eye; May we thereby instructed be, And learn this lesson, how to die! Are we not all preparing here For length of days and happy life, But in the midst of this great bustle Grim Death steps in, and ends the strife! Oh would we! in the strife for riches, But attend to WISDOM's call, She would instruct us how to find Her Golden Treasure—ALL IN ALL! Her sacred voice we will not hear, Or hearing we will not obey; For it is she, and nothing less, That can direct us how to pray. " Thy kingdom come, thy will be done," We with indifference may express, But to have pow'r to do the same, Is something more, we must confess. The kingdom of the Lord we read Doth not consist in meats and drinks, But righteousness and holiness; Not in what a free-thinker thinks. May we then learn to know and do The will of God with filial fear, And when the Wheel of Time shall carry Us from this to a higher sphere— May we then know our day's work done, And be prepared for the skies, Faith, hope and love, point out the way, And bid our gladden'd souls arise.