Cuz I really need one right now. My mom, who was quite bipolar with her support of me to begin with today was in her negative mood a/k/a telling me and pointing out all the things I'm sensitive to begin with. My favorite line was her "you'll never be a woman" declaration. This came on the heels of one of my few transsexual (online) friends getting a job, but as a guy and so tomorrow she's going back to being "Dave" and she was one that really seemed to be succeeded and gave me a lot of hope, (though she may not know that. I found out that Jenny got screwed out of a place at Emory Law this fall and now has to figure out her life. And then the worst was my friend, whose mom collapsed and died right in front of her. It's been a very bad few couple of days.
So this poem is by Longfellow, and it is one of my all-time favorites. It got me through a lot of bad days in AmeriCorps, and since. Hopefully it'll get me through this one too
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.
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