June 28

“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.

“Not enjoyment and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Finds us farther than today.

“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 labour and to wait.”

LONGFELLOW