At the End

At the end of the day
What reward shall we gain
For the pleasures of play
And the presence of pain?
When the sun shall have set
What reward shall we get?

As we sing and we sigh
Through the years' tangled ways,
Through the winter's wild cry,
Through the blooms of the Mays,--
When the years all have set,
What reward shall we get?

Through the battle and strife,
Through the right and the wrong,
We shall climb to the life
Where the years are a song;
When the sun shall have set,
There's a crown we shall get!