Our days on earth are sad and few

1 Our days on earth are sad and few,
Distress'd on ev'ry side;
In all our lives we find it true;
This cannot be denied.

2 The age of three score years and ten,
An age that few do live;
But sorrow, trouble, grief and pain,
Is all that age can give.

3 Why should it be our chief concern,
To grasp at shaddows here;
Much greater lessons could we learn,
To make up happy there.

4 We know that we are born to die;
Was all the world our own:
Yet swift our precious moments fly,
And quickly we are gone.

5 May God be pleas'd to grant us grace,
And make us wise to know,
That we may seek a better place,
Than all this world below.

Source: Church Hymn Book: consisting of newly composed hymns with the addition of hymns and psalms, from other authors, carefully adapted for the use of public worship, and many other occasions (1st ed.) #CCXXIV