quote · Legacy record
A moment is a mighty thing, Beyond the soul’s imagining, For in it, though we trace it not, How much there crowds of varied lot! How much of life, life cannot see, Darts onward to eternity! While vacant hours of beauty roll Their magic o’er some yielded soul, Ah! little do the happy guess The sum of human wretchedness; Or dream, amid the soft farewell That time of them is taking, How frequent mourns the funeral knell, What noble heart is breaking, While myriads to their tombs descend Without a mourner, creed, or friend!
A moment is a mighty thing, Beyond the soul’s imagining, For in it, though we trace it not, How much there crowds of varied lot! How much of life, life cannot see, Darts onward to eternity! While vacant hours of beauty roll Their magic o’er some yielded soul, Ah! little do the happy guess The sum of human wretchedness; Or dream, amid the soft farewell That time of them is taking, How frequent mourns the funeral knell, What noble heart is breaking, While myriads to their tombs descend Without a mourner, creed, or friend!
In print by 1888 AD · industrial
Recorded in a printed collection by this date; the original date of these words is still unknown.
Meaning not yet available
An individual explanation has not yet been added. We do not substitute a generic description for an interpretation of these particular words.
Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- R. Montgomery (identity unresolved)
Attribution: unknown - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- In print by 1888 AD · industrial
In print by 1888: recorded in A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888). Collection publication is an upper bound for this wording, not its earliest origin, composition date or the author's lifetime.
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888) (1888 AD)
Page 609 · printed citation: R. Montgomery · subject: TIME
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.