Though I speak like men or angels,

If I am bereft of love,

I become a clanging cymbal

Or a gong of brass to shove.

Though I can foretell the future

And I know all hidden truth,

Though my faith's my strongest feature

And can move a mount forsooth,

If I have no love I'm nothing.

Though I give my goods away,

Even yield myself to burning,

Lack of love will lose the day.

Love is patient, love is kindly

And it envies no one's fame,

Never boastful nor conceited,

Rude nor selfish, slow to blame.

Love forgets his brother's errors

And rejoices not in sin.

Rather when the truth is foremost,

Love delⁱghts to share therein.

Love's endurance is far-reaching;

There's no limit to its faith;

And its hope will cover all things.

Love will live ev'n after death.

Prophecies fulfilled are finished,

Need for tongues will disappear,

Knowledge some day will have vanished

When the truth at last is here.

Is our present knowledge partial?

Is our prophecy in part?

When perfection comes among us

Then the partial will depart.

Then I was a little toddler,

Then I thought in childish ways;

When I grew to be an adult,

I forsook those early days.

All that we can see at present

Is a mirror image - dull.

Time will come when, face to face, we

See reality in full.

All that I can know at present

Is a fraction of the whole;

But in God's good time I'll know him

Fully as he knows my soul.

Now abideth these three virtues

Faith and hope and love withall;

But Throughout the everlasting

Love's the greatest gift of all.