Life is real

2/16/2020

My Mother used to quote this to me all the time when I was growing up:

"Life is real
Life is earnest
And the grave is not the goal
Dust thou art to dust returnest,
was not spoken of the soul.
Let us then be up and doing
With a heart for any fate.
Still achieving, still pursuing
Learn to labor and to wait."

For some reason, I got up thinking about this poem this morning. I looked it up to be sure I had it right, and it's much longer. I like the way Mother quoted it to me. She quoted the first and last of the poem. If you want to read the whole poem, it's called A Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Maybe it will speak to you today as well.

1 Comment

Donna Bechtol

2/17/2020 09:29:09 am

What wonderful and true words spoken by your mother.....my mom had lots of little things like that but I don't believe I know that poem.....my mother-in-law however being the warm caring poetic person she was (not..lol ) always said..."there are worse things in life than death..." I knew her hardness was from losing her dad when she was 6 years old and her mother was a harsh woman who was left with 5 children to raise..I learned, as I grew to know that her outside was hard, but the inside was not. Our moms learned early that life is real and life is hard and their work was endless.... all the while they 'labored and waited',cultivating loving hearts .....I will look up some Longfellow today....thanks.....

Prisha patter

Life is real