Is life worth living?
It depends on your believing;--
If it ends with this short span,
Then is man no better than
The beasts that perish.
But a Loftier Hope we cherish.
"Life out of Death" is written wide
Across Life's page on every side.
We cannot think as ended, our dear dead who died.
What room is left us then for doubt or fear?
Love laughs at thought of ending--there, or here.
God would lack meaning if this world were all,
And this short life but one long funeral.
God is! Christ loves! Christ lives!
And by His Own Returning gives
Sure pledge of Immortality.
The first-fruits--He; and we--
The harvest of His victory.
The life beyond shall this life far transcend,
And Death is the Beginning--not the End!