A PSALM OF LIFE - #WRITEAPAGEADAY #BLOGCHATTER

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What the Heart of the Young Man Said to the Psalmist

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I have an affinity for poetry that maybe came out of my association with my grandparents and parents, all of whom loved literature in one way or the other. My mother still holds nuggets of poetry in her mind, even at the age of 85, and brings in apt quotes into her talks, whenever she feels the need to wax eloquent.

When I was in the ninth standard, I was introduced to the poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, by my grandfather who was responsible for many such introductions to great minds. He suggested that I learn some of Longfellow’s poems by heart and that is when I stumbled on ‘The Psalm of Life’, a poem that has become a guidepost in my life, a poem that never fails to astonish me with its nuggets of wisdom every time I pause. 

Maybe, I was a tad too young to realise the gravity of the following lines which spoke of how time is flying by and our hearts are marching towards the grave. Yet, I did take in the truth that Art, like Music, Literature and Dance outlive their creators and stay on to gladden the hearts of all those who appreciate them. 

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. 

This poem continued to be a friend to me each time I needed a hand in need. When I was diffident, this verse pepped me up.

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. 

However, it was when I grew up and decided to be a writer that the poem spoke to me. Two verses etched themselves on my imagination, the letters shining bright, and to be honest, my reasons for writing, apart from the fact that words are my very life, stem from them. 

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. 

The final stanza has always worked like an anthem in my life. It exhorts us all to do whatever we do with dedication and enthusiasm, and continue to act, excel and live on with patience and hope.

 Let us then be up and doing,

With a heart for any fate,

Still achieving, still pursuing,

Learn to labor and to wait.

                                                                      Pinterest

The link below has the whole poem - A Psalm of Life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkIi68Ijk8I

455 words

 




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