Classic Poem

1. 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.
2. 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!

3. Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end and way;
But to act, that each tomorrow
Find us further than today.

4. Lives of true men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Foot-prints on the sands of time;

5. Footprints which perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

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