This was one of my grandfather’s favourite poems:<\/p>\n
A PSALM OF LIFE<\/p>\n
WHAT THE HEART OF THE YOUNG MAN
\nSAID TO THE PSALMIST<\/p>\n
TELL me not, in mournful numbers,
\nLife is but an empty dream ! \u2014
\nFor the soul is dead that slumbers,
\nAnd things are not what they seem.<\/p>\n
Life is real ! Life is earnest!
\nAnd the grave is not its goal ;
\nDust thou art, to dust returnest,
\nWas not spoken of the soul.<\/p>\n
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
\nIs our destined end or way ;
\nBut to act, that each to-morrow
\nFind us farther than to-day.<\/p>\n
Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
\nAnd our hearts, though stout and brave,
\nStill, like muffled drums, are beating
\nFuneral marches to the grave.<\/p>\n
In the world’s broad field of battle,
\nIn the bivouac of Life,
\nBe not like dumb, driven cattle !
\nBe a hero in the strife !<\/p>\n
Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant !
\nLet the dead Past bury its dead !
\nAct,\u2014 act in the living Present !
\nHeart within, and God o’erhead !<\/p>\n
Lives of great men all remind us
\nWe can make our lives sublime,
\nAnd, departing, leave behind us
\nFootprints on the sands of time ;<\/p>\n
Footprints, that perhaps another,
\nSailing o’er life’s solemn main,
\nA forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
\nSeeing, shall take heart again.<\/p>\n
Let us, then, be up and doing,
\nWith a heart for any fate ;
\nStill achieving, still pursuing,
\nLearn to labor and to wait.<\/p>\n
Longfellow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This was one of my grandfather’s favourite poems: A PSALM OF LIFE WHAT THE HEART OF THE YOUNG MAN SAID TO THE PSALMIST TELL me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream ! \u2014 For the soul is dead that slumbers, And things are not what they seem. Life is real !…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[433],"class_list":["post-914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily","tag-longfellow"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/daniel.footstepsbooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/daniel.footstepsbooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/daniel.footstepsbooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daniel.footstepsbooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daniel.footstepsbooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/daniel.footstepsbooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/daniel.footstepsbooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daniel.footstepsbooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daniel.footstepsbooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}