The Transitoriness
Author: Luiken, Jan, 1649-1712
Image Title: The Transitoriness
Scripture Reference:
- Isaiah 1 (further images / scripture text)
Description: A man watches the leaves dropping from a tree, at the foot of which lies the World, a skull, bones, a crown, and other worldly treasures. The Dutch artist and poet Jan Luiken (1649-1712), whose initials are at the lower right, was responsible for drawing and etching this emblem and for the poem that accompanies it (below). The attendant scripture text is Isaiah 1:30-31.
Poem:
The little Tree drops his leaves,
At the End of the sweet time,
Always one of all,
So he also loses the last one.
That causes lofty thoughts,
(While its neighbor descends in the grave)
To expect this same fate,
As Adam’s leaves fall.
The World can hold her darlings,
Who with all her heart’s affection,
Would love to always hang from her,
Not longer than their time.
He lets them sink downwards,
Whenever a little breeze plays,
The green time is past,
That had shared sap and strength.
Oh World-tree! thou tree of all,
How thou hast from the very beginning,
Let many thousands of leaves drop,
Which are already rotted in the grave!
Thus no one can deceive himself,
Through imagined vain hope,
That the waste will spare only him,
As everything fell.
This sees the wise man clearly,
And he creates a newly born desire,
To raise his growth,
To where the green leaf never fell,
From the Eternal blooming wood of the Lord,
In the always growing Paradise,
If only each one’s heart would turn to that,
Who would love to win the highest prize.
(Translation by Josephine V. Brown, with editorial assistance from William G. Stryker)
.
Click here for additional images available from this book.
Request a high-resolution file (fees apply)
Rights Statement: The online edition of this work in the public domain, i.e., not protected by copyright, has been produced by Pitts Theology Library, Emory University.
Rights Status: No Copyright - United States
Pitts Theology Library provides copyright information as a courtesy and makes no representation about copyright or other legal status of materials in the Digital Image Archive.