Longfellow!

Here is one of my favorite poems. I first heard it my junior year of high school in a class called American Studies. Hearing it read was instrumental in my decision to fully step on my spiritual path.

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.

"To dust thou art to dust returneth"

Was not spoken of the soul.

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!

Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

Footprints on the sands of time.