Lehi waxed eloquent in his warnings and encouragement; he called his sons to action with such verbs as remember,hearken, awake, and arise. The prophet uses poetry and euphemism to describe his imminent departure from this life: a “trembling parent, whose limbs ye must soon lay down in the cold and silent grave, from whence no traveler can return; a few more days and I go the way of all the earth.” Similar poetic expressions appear in the King James Bible and in the works of Shakespeare and other great writers, but Lehi precedes and exceeds most of them.
A euphemism is a figure of speech in which a harsh or indelicate word or concept is softened. Note how Book of Mormon authors spoke of dying: “go the way of all the earth” (2 Nephi 1:14; Alma 1:1; Helaman 1:2); “be carried out of this time” (1 Nephi 18:18); “gave up the ghost” (Jacob 7:20–21); “go to the place of my rest” (Enos 1:27); “yield up this mortal frame” (Mosiah 2:26); “gone to dwell with … God” (Alma 24:22); “taste of death” (3 Nephi 28:7); “pass away” (Ether 10:17); and “sleep” (Mormon 9:13).