The German text is a poem by Matthias Claudius, beginning with "Der Mensch lebt und bestehet nur eine kleine Zeit" (Man liveth and endureth but a short time).

Composed in Meiningen in 1914, it was published in 1916 after Reger's death as the first of Acht geistliche Gesänge (Eight Sacred Songs).

Inspired by Bach's motets, he had composed "extended a cappella choral settings",[2] such as Geistliche Gesänge, Op.

[4] Der Mensch lebt und bestehet was published by N. Simrock in 1916 as the first of Acht geistliche Gesänge.

Es ist nur Einer ewig und an allen Enden, —und wir in seinen Händen.

The poem reflects how short-lived and transient are both the human existence and the splendor of the world (sic transit gloria mundi), in contrast to God who is eternal and omnipresent.

After another long rest, the contrasting concept of an eternal being is developed in mostly homophony, growing from mf to f on ewig (eternal), and the final und wir in seinen, seinen Händen (and we in his, his hands) reaches ff when the word Händen begins, which is then developed over two measures, slowing down and diminishing, but with individual melodies full of rhythmical details in all voices.