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This Too Shall Pass Lyrics
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 as 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
'Cause it's all the life accepts
And so we kill it like a buffalo
With awe and with respect
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
And 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
But this too shall pass
Better carve it on your forehead
Or tattoo it on your ass
When the clock strikes twelve
If today's become tomorrow
Or if it's all just gone to hell
She swirls and sings
She's a mystic in the sense
That she's still mystified by things
How can nothing seem to last?
'Cause like a cancer in your body
It all just goes too fast
We think our self as one whole thing
And we claim that this collection
Has a name and is a being
When every cell divides
Well it sets upon the rule that states
Self-interest is divine
Lives by this golden rule
That you must do unto the others
As the others unto you
'Cause it's all the life accepts
And so we kill it like a buffalo
With awe and with respect
Just holler at the sky
'Cause she'll tell it to you plainly
In the clouds that whisper by
And then praise the way they change
And they'll teach you not to pray to light
Without you pray to rain
And I pray to needs
And I pray to blades of grass
To find forgiveness in the weeds
I just never did believe
And so I never prayed myself
Except to those that prayed for me
Or the way that I was told
There was a king that always felt too high
And then he fell too low
All the wise men to the hall
And he begged them for a gift
To end the rises and the falls
They came back with a ring
It was simple and was plainly
Unbefitting of a king
Well it had no front or back
But there were words around the band that said
Just know: This Too Shall Pass
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It seems to me to be a song about illness, specifically something chronic or incurable, and trying to make peace with that. There's mention of cancer, and then later in the song there is the "king" who seems to be suffering from Bipolar Disorder. The poor king can't be cured of his highs and lows, but he can be encouraged to remember that "this too shall pass." That the lows will pass if he just has the will to hold on until then.
The song feels like a meditation on the fragility, and temporary nature, of life. No state is permanent. Everything changes. Everything fades away. Our bodies are not singular things, but collections of smaller things, which are sometimes at odds with each other. That's the nature of Life. Even cancer has a dark kind of beauty to it, like a dangerous monster that needs to be vanquished. It's just following the single directive of Life: to continue.
That's all Life is: continuance. Everything passes. Everything fades. The only constant is change.