This too Shall Pass

By Maya Goldberg, 16

This too shall pass, 

A phrase that helps in dark times and light

I thought as time stopped drowning in fright

A tidal wave of a white minivan driving down Stirling Road

A shattered bubble of the safe decade and a half I’ve known

People were just bodies, just robots made of meat

This too shall pass they told me, this too shall pass I told me

King Solomon and I team up together and take shifts whispering

And once this too passed, 

Another this shall come along to pass,

Like the slow degradation of the sun’s mass

Or the numbers on the clock in science class

And the rain dropping on grass or glass

And I hold hands with every solid liquid and gas, 

And we put aside fear, united we say:

This too shall pass.

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About a year ago I crashed my mom’s car with my sister and two friends in the backseat. As a Jew trying to learn about my traditions and all the philosophy my religion has to offer, I often comforted myself with the bitter-sweet words “gam ze avor”, or “this too shall pass.” King Solomon had a ring that said that to keep himself solemn in his happy times, and relieved in his sad, and I used that powerful saying as inspiration.

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