"A Psalm of Life" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The nineteenth century poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is occasionally mentioned in several of the BryonySeries books because the mother of character Henry Matthews is fond of Longfellow's poetry.

One poem, the poem below, is featured in its entirety in "Bryony", when Melissa Marchellis' English teacher Harold Masters recites it from memory in class.

I recently encountered this poem for the first time in many years, and I was struck by how each line of the poem, well, struck me, during this recent re-read - and made me ponder and reflect.

Since many of us aren't reading Longfellow these days and even less of us have (or had) teachers that recited his poems in class, I'm sharing this poem with you today.

It's one of those poems where you can read it at face value the first time and then return to it later for another read, a slower read, and gain fresh insight.

Enjoy!

"A Psalm of Life" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)

This poem is featured in "Bryony"

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.