The End of the Road

This is a thing is true,
Everything comes to an end:
The loving of me and you,
The walking of friend and friend

Shall I weep the beauty I knew,
Or the greatness gathered away
Or the truth that is only true,
As the things that a man will say?

The child and the mother will die,
The wife and the husband sever,
The sun will go out of the sky,
And the rain will be falling for ever.

For ever until the waves rear
To the skies with a terrible tune,
And cover the earth and air,
And climb up the beach of the moon.

They go, for all things must end,
And this is true as I say –
A friend will be leaving a friend,
And a man will be going away.

James Stephens The Hill of Visions
Maunsel and Company Ltd, 1912