LESSON 51 A PSALM OF LIFE

A PSALM OF LIFE

TELL me not, in mournful numbers [1] ,

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 [2] ;

“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 [3] , and Time is fleeting,

And our hearts, though stout and brave,

Still, like muffled drums [4] , are beating

Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world’s broad field of battle,

In the bivouac of life [5] ,

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 [6] ,—

Footprints that perhaps another,

Sailing o’er life’s solemn main [7] ,

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.

—H. W. LONGFELLOW

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[1] numbers: Verses.

[2] the grave is not its goal: Death is not the end.

[3] Art is long, &c: Time is too short for more than the important work of life to be well accomplished.

[4] muffled drums: Drums covered to deaden the sound.

[5] bivouac of life: Life is here compared to an army in camp, but quite ready for action.

[6] footprints on the sands of time: Good examples set to guide those who follow.

[7] life’s solemn main: Life is here compared to a vast and impressive ocean.