image credit: h.koppdelaney
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 tomorrow
Find us farther than today.
Art is long, and Time is fleeting
And our hearts though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled dreams, 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
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
How often I’ve gained deep solace and inspiration from these words of Longfellow. Some of my all time favourites.
Thanks for sharing them here and adding your own gracious signature to their message…. You have invested new depth to this psalm, this song of life.
Much love,
Maithri
Hello Maithri,
Yes my friend, these words give solace and inspiration. A balm to the soul, that there is more to this life than the day to day reality, that we have a greater legacy to inherit.
You are on that path, may it bring you to your deepest joy!
I majored in English and especially loved 19th century writing. They were facing many of the same issues facing us to day – realizing nature’s beauty even as we’d started to encroach on it, science and religion, faith and doubt – how to lead a meaningful life in a context where the truth of inherited tradition couldn’t always be taken for granted.
Don’t think they’d much care for the overall direction our species has taken since they’re demise…
A wonderful and wise poem! thanks for sharing.
Hello Paul,
Welcome! I took a quick peek at your blog, I am enticed to return soon to read more.
I too like the 19th century poets and I find it interesting reading Yeats, Auden and Whitman, that their writing could have been about our era; our search for meaning and a despair of society’s fixation on trivial pursuits and indifference to the body-politic.
Then too, Rumi, Hafiz, Kabir, Tulsidas, Mirabai were all writing in a similar vane, even though they lived many centuries earlier. It seems we are still learning about the same things as we evolve, only now we have the tools to do it faster. Our technology gives us the potential to do more harm and also to reap the benefit of exposure to so many wisdom teachings.
I suspect this will always be so, we will all make choices according to the degree of awakening, although the new-age people see a golden age where everyone will be fully enlightened!
Thanks for dropping by and sharing.
Have a peaceful day!
Hello Mark,
I love this poem, so inspiring and beautiful, my favourite lines:
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again…
I am glad you enjoyed it.
Warm love and deep peace to you!
Hi Miruh,
My heart is fluttering at the beauty of these words. I shall let them play in my Soul all day.
Thank you my friend for sharing such grace.
“Still, like muffled dreams, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.”
Awesome!
Oh, Miruh!
“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.”
What wonderful words! This is a poem my Momma read to me…long, long, ago. It is so beautiful. That we might all Live Life in earnest!
Love, my friend, L
Hello Alexys,
Yes these words have a breath taking quality about them, and they continue to tug at the heart-strings, to wake us up to the awesome beauty of the soul, in a life well lived with purpose.
I am so touched by these lines of poetry and wanted to share their magic with my readers.
I am glad you enjoyed it.
May your heart dance to the clarion call!
Hello Linda,
Your Momma had great taste in literature! You were so fortunate to be exposed to the world of art and beauty in words. It is a gift; I am always amazed to visit other people and look around their home and not see any books! How can people live without books? I have bookshelves laden with books in every room except the bathroom.
May you bask in the beauty and magic of words from the heart. : D
HWL’s ” A psalm of life” is no doubt a great poem with full of meaning and philosophy and helps us to live a life with virtues and go on and on working with zeal for life worth emulating by some one else.
The way this great poet is remembered by the American people is unparalleled in the history.
I was just imagining how Americans would have revered if ‘ Mahakavi KaaLidasa’ were to be born in USA.
Hello Rajan,
Welcome!
I agree that “A Psalm of Life” was one of the greatest of HWL ’s poems and continues to inspire. So is Kalidasa’s “Look To This Day.” It is the only poem of his that I am familiar with and is well loved by poetry lovers here in North America. I know that he has written some great plays too. Now that you have mentioned him, I will have to study him.
I believe that when a writer is inspired and expresses Truth, his or her words speak to the heart that crosses all the barriers of language and culture as such great poets like Tagore, Gibran, and Li Po.
Thanks for dropping by!
hi……
The poem is so beautiful
Hello Rodny,
Thanks for dropping by. This poem continues to inspire for it speaks to the innermost truth of man’s purpose in his time on earth. It is a call to awakening.
Glad you liked the post.
Peace to you.
The poem is a celebration of the serenity and beauty of the human life amidst the turmoil and unrest in our present world. The bard considers the two parts (joy and sorrow) to the physical life and firmly asserts that these two do not in any way affect the soul. He celebrates the sublimity and immortality of the soul; thus enjoining us to live with the ultimate goal of achieving immortality- “Lives of great men all… the sands of time”.
Hello Adedapo,
Welcome!
I love your interpretation of the poem…thus enjoining us to live with the ultimate goal of achieving immortality-
These words echo the voices of great men and women, urging us to move beyond the ego constraints that keep us bound in the pursuit of selfish needs. Beyond the masks of joy and sorrow to a greater legacy,
…And things are not what they seem.
Thanks for dropping by and sharing your wisdom!
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