Sometimes my inner "modernist poet" feels weird about still loving this poem so completely, but it has been yet to be surpassed by any poem written before of since that so completely expresses feelings and ideas I have about life. I find so much wisdom and subtle profound truths in the lines of this poem. My favorite lines by far are "In the bivouac of Life/ Be not like dumb, driven cattle." Mostly because of the word "bivouac," but also because it seems so easy to get caught up following the crowds and the need to keep up with what is popular or trendy. I memorized this poem back in high school and I often see its lines quoted by speakers and current media today, as well as being put to song, so I don't think I am the only who feels this way. Enjoy:
A Psalm of Life
BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
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.
