Biv·ou·ac

There's a board question right now that will post in a few days, that reminded me to remember one of my favorite poems. I guess I could have answered it on there, but I'm currently on hiatus from the Board, due to serious lack of time. This is the first time in about a month that I've actually checked more than messages. Anyway-- I read this in about the the 7th grade, and it's kinda been one of my life mantras...or something like that. A lot of mostly, I just really like the thing. For your pleasure, and my own personal being able to continually find it:

A Psalm of Life
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I
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.

II
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.

III
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destin'd end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

IV
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.

V
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!

VI
Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act--act in the glorious Present!
Heart within, and God o'er head!

VII
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footsteps on the sands of time.

VIII
Footsteps, that, perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwreck'd brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

IX
Let us then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

So, yeah--just a really good poem. I loved learning the word bivouac (A temporary encampment often in an unsheltered area.), and the upbeat tone that it held. Basically, I think it says that life is going to be real--but it's not the end, and we should live in the moments of this life, in order to gain the goods of the next. Not that the goods of this life aren't worth getting a bit of too... :)