A psalm of life
By xiuluoelly
@xiuluoelly (1224)
China
June 27, 2007 12:42am CST
Herry Wadsworth longfellow
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 and our way;
But to act,
That much 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'erpleasant.
Let the dead Past bury its dead.
Act, act in the living Present.
Heart within, and God 0' 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;
Fotprints that perhaps another,
sailing o' er life 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 labour and to wait.
1 response
@maiax2k6 (535)
• Philippines
27 Jun 07
it's one of my favorite poems, learned it in high school, though i found some negative criticsms regarding it when i went to college literature class, which thankfully i don't remember anymore. i still like it anyway. along with his (longfellow's) 'the arrow and the song' which i learned in 6th grade. i recited it in one of our family gatherings and they're amazed at how one can still memorize a poem by heart. kids don't do that these days they's not very appreciative of poetry anymore except for rap.
thank you for reminding me, i'm now nostalgic of my younger years.
