Longfellow

I chose my poet by leaving it to randomness. I simply went to a bookstore, grabbed several books of verses, randomly opened a page and read what was in it. The idea was to pick up the one I feel the most connection to, but what happened was, I simply picked the first one I could understand something of. Happened to be Selected Poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Of the entire selection, (I read only around 15 of them) but "A Psalm of Life" is the one that touches me the most. This poem is a passionate call to awaken the soul to purpose and action. Even though my life’s purpose eludes me, and all my goals lie beyond a hazy glow, reading the poem is still inspiring. In an oddly bhagavadgita-like manner, the poem calls for action in the present, without looking at the past or the future. Elsewhere, there is also reference to doing without worrying about the result. While all these elements are inspiring, to me the following verses are the most “Goose-bumpy” ones:

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.

Although I have no intention (or even ability) to leave behind “Footprints in the sands of time”, I am always on the lookout for “Footprints” left behind by lofty souls. Footsteps, which awaken me from the stupor of the everyday life. Left behind by people, whose words, thoughts and work find a kinship in me, like they were all here, witnessing me and empathizing, in my moment of question and doubt.

The poem peaks in its call to purpose and a forward momentum in these two stanzas. In fact, till I actually read it out, I did not realize that there was more. These verses follow:

Let us, then, be up and doing,
        With a heart for any fate ;
    Still achieving, still pursuing,
        Learn to labor and to wait.

Unfortunately there is nowhere to go from the peak but down. While the idea of doing without expecting result still finds a resonance, laboring and waiting is a decidedly “old-world” virtue that fails to find any sympathy. If you are brave enough for any fate, then why wait? Why not take up the next meandering path that echoes with your passion and continue down that road?

Other poems like the “Burial of the Minnisink”, “Hymn to the Night” and several others have beautiful imagery and message. “Mezzo Cammin” is about disappointment and disillusionment. Halfway through life, the protagonist realizes that the goals and aspirations that he had set out to achieve in his youth are incomplete and what is left is but the autumn of life. A wonderfully written poem, that is sure to touch a chord in the reader. If one is honest enough to acknowledge the lofty and idealistic goals one sets for oneself in the bright-eyed innocence of youth. And how little of it is achieved or even seems possible to achieve as one grows older.