Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!--
For the soul is dead that slumber,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not it's goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returned,
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 two-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 in no Future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury it's 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 an doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
Read this when I was young but reading it now takes on much more sincere meaning!!!