What Is Life?

What is life? ’tis but a va­por;

Soon it van­ish­es away;

Life is but a dy­ing ta­per;

O my soul! why wish to stay!

Why not spread thy wings

and fly

Straight to yon­der world of joy?

See that glo­ry—how re­splen­dent!

Brighter far than fan­cy paints;

There

in ma­jes­ty trans­cend­ent

Jesus reigns—the King of saints:

Spread thy wings

my soul! and fly

Straight to yon­der world of joy.

Joyful crowds

His throne sur­round­ing

Sing with rap­ture of His love;

Through the heav­ens His prais­es sound­ing

Filling all the courts ab­ove:

Spread thy wings

my soul! and fly

Straight to yon­der world of joy.

Go

and share His peo­ple’s glo­ry

Mid the ran­somed crowd ap­pear;

Thine a joy­ful

won­drous sto­ry

One that an­gels love to hear:

Spread thy wings

my soul! and fly

Straight to yon­der world of joy