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
Finds 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.
By: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
@1860
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Psalm 73:24-26 (Job
14) 
"I think of "The Psalm Of
Life," the great English poet, Longfellow,
when he wrote it. I stood by his grave, here a
few months ago. I thought of his great poetry and
what he give to the world, and I said,
"Psalm Of Life" was one of my
favorites."