Photograph by Peter Lik - see his amazing pictures here.
A PSALM OF LIFE
WHAT THE HEART OF THE YOUNG MAN SAID TO THE PSALMIST
TELL me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream ! —
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real ! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal ;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way ;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.
Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle !
Be a hero in the strife !
Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant !
Let the dead Past bury its dead !
Act,— act in the living Present !
Heart within, and God o'erhead !
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time ;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate ;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Happy Monday! :)
4 comments:
I love this poem too! Thanks for posting it!
I'm so glad you discovered this poem. I had loved it, but forgotten about it --so I'm glad you posted it. It did perk me up on this January day.
Someone talking about "I Heard the Bells" recently helped me appreciate his life more. He lost two wives--one in a miscarriage while they were abroad and the other died horribly from her dress catching on fire at home. He tried to save her and put out the flames by holding her. But she died the next day, and he was so badly burned he couldn't go to the funeral. His face was scared--hence, the beard. He stopped writing poetry for a while--then wrote that wonderful carol.
Now that's a downer for your upbeat poem. But I think what he expressed as a younger man must have given him (and others) strength.
What a beautiful philosophy to live by.
This is powerful. Love it, and love you.
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