Ye children, Adam's, of earth begotten, Who unto earth shall again return! You are my own: Be it not forgotten, I am the penalty sin did earn!... O man, time's guest! With my grasp, I reach thee, From east to west, And by voices, teach thee With scripture's word in the Master's name, From air and water and earth and flame. You build and dwell like the sparrows, building, In sunny summer, their fragile nest: Securely feeling, in shady shielding, They sing so joyful in happy rest; But sudden gust Of the tempest shatters The tiny crust Of their nest in tatters- The merry song, heard so short before, With grief is silenced forevermore. The original, of which this is a translation, is universally considered one of the very best among many beautiful poems written by the same illustrious author. The sublime didactic thoughts therein expressed, in language majestic and yet so simple, have won for it a constantly increasing popularity; and, during half a century, in a language so rich in literary beauties as the Swedish, have maintained it among the foremost of poetical productions of its kind. A correct English translation, therefore, is fraught with difficulties which but few persons can appreciate. It has been my aim to reproduce the poem in the original meter, with the rhymes in their proper places. Of course, care has been taken to preserve the sense, and even the idioms of the original. How far I have been successful it is hardly for me to say. As it is, I give it to the reading public. The poem has undoubted merits in the original. If the merits are concealed in the translation, the fault is mine. A. W. ALMQVIST. Johan Olof Wallin (15 October 1779 – 30 June 1839) was a Swedish minister, orator, poet and later Church of Sweden Archbishop of Uppsala, Sweden between 1837–1839. He is most remembered today for his hymns.