Sunday Poem: A Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

For me, Sundays are days to rest, reflect, ponder and plan.

And poetry, with its concentrated imagery and boundless connotations, offers one of the best ways to reflect on truth and the meaning and purpose of life, to lift one’s view beyond day-to-day monotony, and stir one’s soul to greatness.

So I’m instituting a new tradition on the CSL blog: Each Sunday we’ll post a poem designed to inspire us, cause us to reflect more deeply on our lives, and empower us to live more consciously.

I invite you to take time each Sunday to read and re-read the poems, ponder them, let them sink into your soul and permeate your life.

Without further ado, here’s our first Sunday poem:

A Psalm of Life

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.

Please share your thoughts on this poem with the community by commenting below.