WHAT IS THAT WE TAKE FROM EARTH
By Charles Swain (1801-1874)

WHAT is that we take from earth
When the spirit leaves its clay?
What is there of mortal birth
Worthy to be born away?
Is it state, or power, or fame,
Gold or rank, we need above?
Oh! there’s naught worth heaven’s claim
Saye that gift of heaven – love!
Love, which fills the world with light,
When the sun hath set afar;
Love, which joins us in our flight
To that land where angels are!

From all nature doth it draw
Beauty to adorn its shrine;
By some spiritual law
Making earthly things divine.
It the inner soul inspires,
It the purer life reveals;
And eternity requires
To express the faith it feels!
Love, ‘tis love, fills earth with light,
When the sun hath set afar;
Love, which joins us in our flight
To that world where angels are!

Yes, ‘mid all that God hath made
There is one surpassing spell;
In its strength are saints arrayed,
In its glory angels dwell.
It is this which still outspeeds
Sight and space, and time and breath;
It is this the spirit needs
When immortal over death;
Sweetness which outblooms the May,
Brightness which outshines the star;
This, ‘tis this, we bear away
To that land where angels are!