Gavriil Romanovich Derzhavin

Two days before his death, the ailing great Russian poet Gavriil Romanovich Derzhavin, losing his strength, inscribed upon a slate tablet an eight-line verse that, by Providence's will, became the last in his poetic biography:

The river of time in its swift flow Bears away all the deeds of men, And drowns in oblivion's abyss Nations, kingdoms, and their kings. And if something does remain Through the sounds of lyre and trumpet, Then eternity's maw will devour it, And it shall not escape the common fate.

[Long prose essay follows - translated selected passages:]

A man gifted by God with wisdom acquires wisdom with each day of his life. And at life's end, when such a man reviews what has passed, truth reveals itself to him. Most acutely of all, having shed all earthly things, man perceives truth in his final hours. Perhaps truth revealed itself to Derzhavin as well—the truth of the vanity and corruption of all earthly glory before eternal life. His verses have no other meaning. "There is no remembrance of former things; nor will there be any remembrance of things that will come hereafter among those who will come after" (Ecclesiastes 1:11), we read in the Bible. Perhaps Derzhavin recalled Solomon's words. Perhaps he came to the same conclusion himself. Who knows?