I see I'd already posted this in March of 2011, but I don't think it's lost its relevance...something I'd been thinking of recently ( Read more... )

"If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it; every arrow that flies feels the attraction of the earth."
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,

"...The prayer of Ajax was for light ( Read more... )

Excelsior
The shades of night were falling fast,
As through an Alpine village passed
A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice,
A banner with the strange device,
       Excelsior! 
His brow was sad; his eye beneath,
Flashed like a falchion from its sheath,
And like a silver clarion rung
The accents of that unknown tongue,
       Excelsior! 
( Read more... )

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)
            A PSALM OF LIFE

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!
        ( Read more... )

THE GOBLET OF LIFE

Filled is Life's goblet to the brim;
And though my eyes with tears are dim,
I see its sparkling bubbles swim,
And chant a melancholy hymn
  With solemn voice and slow.

( Read more... )