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