Death and Resurrection

O what is life? 'tis like a flower

No. 966
Metre C. H. M.
Tune WILLCOTT.
Words Jane Taylor.
Music L. Marshall.
Key E major
Time 3/4
3 stanzas

Words

O what is life? 'tis like a flowerThat blossoms and is gone;It flourishes its little hour,With all its beauty on;Death comes, and, like a wintry day,It cuts the lovely flower away.

O, what is life? 'Tis like the bowThat glistens in the sky:We love to see its colors glow,But while we look, they die:Life fails as soon: to-day 'tis here;To-morrow it may disappear.

Lord, what is life? If spent with thee,In humble praise and prayer,How long or short our life may beWe feel no anxious care;Though life depart, our joys shall lastWhen life and all its joys are past.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: hymn number «966», tune name «WILLCOTT. C. H. M.» centred over the music, «L. Marshall.» at the right (capitals and small capitals); running head «DEATH AND RESURRECTION.». No reference line (the hymn has its own tune). Stanza 1 is interlinear: the first system ends with a repeat sign and carries two lines of words, bracketed «1. { O what is life? 'tis like a flower That blos - soms and is gone; / It flour - ish - es its lit - tle hour, With all its beau - ty on; }» (first and second time through the system); the second system carries «Death comes, and, like a win - try day, It cuts the love - ly flower a - way.». Sung form of every stanza: lines 1–2 on system 1, lines 3–4 on system 1 again, lines 5–6 on system 2. Stanzas 2–3 are printed as text in two columns below the music; «Jane Taylor.» in italics after stanza 3. The print sets a thin space before «?», «;» and «:» («life ?», «gone ;», «sky :», «die :», «soon :», «here ;», «care ;»); it is closed up here. Stanza 1 has «O what» and «'tis» (no comma, lower case) where stanza 2 has «O, what» and «'Tis» — both as printed. Spelling («colors», «to-day», «To-morrow»), punctuation and capitals are the print's. Lines 2 and 4 of each stanza are indented in the print, lines 5–6 are flush.