Life burns us up like fire,
And song goes up in flame;
The body returns in ashes
To the ashes whence it came.

Out of things it rises,
And laughs, and loves, and sings;
Slowly it subsides
Into the char of things.

Yet a voice soars above it -
Love is the great and strong:
The best of us forever
Escapes, in love and song.

John Hall Wheelock