What would I have,
Of all that could be given,
To make my life more sweet,
A truer song from heaven,

If fortune, friends and fame
Were easy prey to win,
And every joy of earth
Like magic could float in?

What would I seek,
More eager to possess,
Than poet’s genius of the soul,
True touch of holiness?

What would I know
Of life, humane, divine,
E’en though the mystery of death
Dissolved by thought of mine?

’Tis surely this,
The truth, the life, the way,
That perfect spirit of the Christ,
Whose light makes endless day.

His power, sublime
To comfort, heal and bless,
My own must be, if work
Will bring such worthiness.

This Christ-like love,
My own, thy own, can be,
’Tis life’s immortal hope,
And crowns eternity.

Clara Elizabeth Choate
Songs of Truth, 1894