Not Everything is as it Seems

 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;
Dust thou are, to dust thou returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

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

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.

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!

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 sand of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solenm 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 labor and to wait.

-Psalm of Life, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

⦁
⦁

I originally learned this poem in school, but it has a more meaning now. The last line of the first stanza “and things are not what they seem” has a powerful and almost incomprehensible message. Take social media for example. You see the edited, fake persona people portray, not real life. For further exaggeration, each photo in this aesthetic image has a story behind it. You just see a snapshot of that. You also don’t see the time and effort put into drawing the 2nd pic.

“Let us then be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait.” You not only need to be real to others but most importantly to yourself. I make sure I’m being real, while protecting my privacy, when posting anything online. In the day and age when talking to people only occurs through the internet, it’s important to create valuable and genuine connections. Tomorrow starts today!!

March 3, 2021
Location: Louisiana, USA

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