I'm feeling sad today. Don't know why but the blues seem to have caught up with me. I thought blogging might help me vent whatever unknown issues have somehow managed to creep into the dark recesses of my mind, resulting in the state of depression I now find myself in. However, I sat staring at a blank computer screen for a full 10 minutes with nary a thought venturing across the vast empty space that sits between my ears. So, I decided to turn to vast cyberspace to cure my writer's block. It didn't, but it did help clear the dark cloud that has been hovering over my head. For your benefit, and perhaps future use, here's the poem that did the trick. A Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is a simple poem, so yes, you plebians out there may draw comfort and counsel from it too.
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.
http://www.online-literature.com/
This is the site I got this poem from. It has a whole array of writers and poets in index. I've added it to my favourites list and strongly recommend avid readers and poetry lovers do so too. I mean they have everything from Shakespeare to Karl Marx (yup, the one and only), Homer to L.M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables- a must read for every girl, young, old or otherwise). No, I am not being paid to advertise this website, just take my word for it, or go check it out for yourself.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to look for more mind-blowing, stops-you-in-your-tracks pieces of poetry to send the sun peeking out from behind the aforementioned cloud I carry around with me.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment