A Psalm of Life
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.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
If you know a veteran who is suffering, or a veteran's family that is suffering, please consider giving to organizations dedicated to helping them. Or go and lend a hand, yourself.
You heard the story, didn't you of the man walking along the seashore?
A youth observed an older man walking along the seashore after a storm at sea. Every once in a while, he would stoop down, pick up something, and throw it out into the water. As the youth got closer, he saw the fellow was picking up stranded starfish, and tossing them back into the sea. The shoreline was littered with them. When he met up with the man, the youth asked, "Why are you throwing them back in the water? There are hundreds of them! What difference does it make if one or two die?
The older man picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the water. Then, he turned and looked at the youth, and said, "It made a difference to that one."
The man walked on, the youth following, both, now, stooping from time to time, picking up a starfish, and throwing it back into the ocean.
Shall we make a difference? If you can, please help our wounded and fallen veterans and their families through any of the following groups:
There are other groups, as well. These are just a few. If you know of others, please let me know and I will post their links here.
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