TNPSC English Study Material

TNPSC English Study Material

PSALM OF LIFE-by HW Longfellow

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 dustretumest,

Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow

Is our destined end or way;

But to act, that each tomorrow

Find us farther than today.

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, how'er pleasant!

Let the dead Past bury its dead!

Act-act in the living presernt

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 walk

NOTE: Poem is taken from Tamil Nadu Text book.