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A Psalm of Life

Oct 14, 2024 | Emerald Book Club, Poetic Flows Podcast, Poetry | 0 comments

By Admin

A Psalm of Life emeraldbookclub.org

A Psalm of Life Byย Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,

ย ย Life is but an empty dream!

For the soul is dead that slumbers,

ย ย 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 worldโ€™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, howeโ€™er pleasant!

   Let the dead Past bury its dead!

Act,โ€” act in the living Present!

   Heart within, and God oโ€™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 oโ€™er lifeโ€™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.

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