Though I could glibly speak with men’s and angel’s tongues,
Yet not by God’s own love be bound,
Then I am merely like a dull, empty sounding brass,
Or tinkle lightly with a cymbal’s sound.
And though I proudly hold the grand prophetic gift,
All deep, dark mysteries grasp, vast knowledge know,
With faith so large as mighty mountains to remove,
If I’ve no love, I’m nothing here below.
And though I feed the poor with everything I have,
And sacrifice my body in the fire,
I gain no profit here nor in the courts above,
If I do not to heights of love aspire.
Love’s power to suffer long cannot diminished be,
Its kindness is to friend and foe the same,
It envies not, nor vaunts itself before the world,
Nor proudly swells in search of fleeting fame.
True love behaves aright and seeketh not her own,
‘Tis not prooked with ease, nor evil thinks,
It loves the truth but hates all sin. It bears, believes,
It hopes, endures, and from its duty never shrinks.
God’s love fails not, though prophecy and tongues shall cease,
And human knowledge vanishes away.
We know and teach in part, but when perfection comes,
This part will not abide beyond today.
Back in my childhood days, I spoke as children speak,
My thoughts were theirs, my understanding too.
But now I am a man, my thoughts and speech are changed,
As out of childhood, day by day I grew.
Today we see but darkly through a glass, but soon
We’ll see Him face to face upon His throne,
And then at last, I’ll know and teach no more in part,
But even as myself to Him am known.
True faith and hope and love forever shall abide,
As they have done since Adam’s tragic fall,
But of this glorious three one towers above the rest–
Love is the greatest one among them all.
– F.T. Wright, December 15, 1979
