This Too Shall Pass

Well, things change fast, but this too shall pass
Better carve it on your forehead or tattoo it on your ass
'Cause who can tell, when the clock strikes twelve
If today's become tomorrow or if it's all just gone to hell

My friend makes rings, she swirls and sings
She's a mystic in the sense that she's still mystified by things
But scared to ask, how can nothing seem to last?
'Cause like a cancer in your body, it all just goes too fast

We think too big, we think our self is one whole thing
And we claim that this collection has a name and is a being
But deep inside, when every cell divides
Well, it sets upon the rule that states self-interest is divine

And cancer too lives by this golden rule
That you must do unto the others as the others unto you
All for the best, because that's all the life accepts
And so we kill it like a buffalo, with awe and with respect

Well, don't ask God, just holler at the sky
'Cause she'll tell it to you plainly in the clouds that whisper by
And praise the shapes, and then praise the way they change
And they'll teach you not to pray to light without you pray to rain

So I pray to hands and I pray to needs
And I pray to blades of grass to find forgiveness in the weeds
But as for health, I just never did believe
And so I never prayed myself except to those that prayed for me

The story goes, or the way that I was told
There was a king that always felt too high and then he fell too low
And so he called all the wise men to the hall
And he begged them for a gift to end the rises and the falls

But here's the thing, they came back with a ring
It was simple and was plainly unbefitting of a king
Engraved in black, well, it had no front or back
But there were words around the band that said
"Just know, this too shall pass"