Alas! how swift the moments fly!
How flash the years along!
Scarce here, yet gone already by,
The burden of a song.
See childhood, youth, and manhood pass,
And age, with furrowed brow;
Time was—Time shall be—drain the glass—
But where in Time is now?

Time is the measure but of change;
No present hour is found;
The past, the future, fill the range
Of Time’s unceasing round.
Where, then, is now? In realms above,
With God’s atoning Lamb,
In regions of eternal love,
Where sits enthroned I AM.

Then, pilgrim, let thy joys and tears
On Time no longer lean;
But henceforth all thy hopes and fears
From earth’s affections wean:
To God let votive accents rise;
With truth, with virtue, live;
So all the bliss that Time denies
Eternity shall give.

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John Quincy Adams was the sixth president of the United States of America. He was born July 11th, 1767 in Quincy, Massachusetts. He served as president from 1825 to 1829, previously serving as the 8th Secretary of State. His father was John Adams, second president of the United States of America. He passed on February 23, 1848 due to complications of a cerebral hemorrhage. President Adams published a book of poetry titled, Poems of Religion and Society.