In Power of transformation, this poem was refered to. Hearing it and reading it brought tears to my heart and eyes. Oh be a Hero, lay our lives down that another may follow from their shipwrecks lives.
So here it is in the fullness.
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
Finds us further 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 labour and to wait.
Now as Bro. Branham quoted it:
Twilight and evening star,
And after that the dark!
May there be no sadness of farewell,
When I'm at last embarked;
For all without is bourne of time and space,
And the floods may bear me far,
But I want to see my Pilot face to face
When I've crossed the bar.
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
That life is just an empty dream!
And the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Yea, life is real! And life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
For dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Lives of great men all remind us,
And we can make our lives sublime,
And, partings, leave behind us,
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
While sailing over life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
In seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us be up, then, and doing,
With a heart for any strife;
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the...
As a final note; he combines these words from Tennyson's Crossing the Bar. Which are the first part of the above. Both poems flow together very smoothly.
Our Heavenly Life
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark ;
For, though from out our bourne of time and place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar.
Alfred Tennyson.
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