A Psalm of Life ~ A Poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Stop Just Existing: Longfellow’s “A Psalm of Life” as a Modern Manifesto

A Psalm of Life

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

What the heart of the young man said to the psalmist

 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.

Source

Reflection

In an era of endless streaming and doom-scrolling, it’s easy to feel that life is merely a passive experience—an “empty dream.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s masterpiece, “A Psalm of Life,” shatters this modern malaise with a resonant, urgent call to action.

Longfellow doesn’t just encourage us; he commands us to wake up. Life is not about marking time until the grave; it is “real” and “earnest.” The poem urges us to resist the urge to be “dumb, driven cattle,” passively following trends or succumbing to burnout. Instead, we are called to be “heroes in the strife” of our own contemporary battles, from career challenges to navigating personal struggles.

“Trust no Future… Let the dead Past bury its dead,” Longfellow writes, echoing a timeless wisdom that is more crucial now than ever. True living only happens in the “living Present.” The footprints we leave today on the digital and physical sands of time may just be the beacon a “forlorn and shipwrecked” modern soul needs to find their own way. Let us be up and doing.

As you read this poem, ask yourself:

Where in your life have you been acting like “driven cattle,” and what is one intentional step you can take today to reclaim your “living Present”?