Inspirational Poems

[Rowan]

My most favourite poem

``````A Psalm of Life


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


Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
``Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
``Find us farther than to-day.


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 sands of time;


Footprints, that perhaps another,
``Sailing o’er life’s solemn 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 labour and to wait.


Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

[Rowan]

The Fighter

I fight a battle every day
Against discouragement and fear;
Some for stands always in my way,
The path ahead is never clear!
I must forever be on guard
Against the doubts that skulk along;
I get ahead by fighting hard,
But fighting keeps my spirit strong.

I hear the croaking of Despair,
The dark predictions of the weak;
I find myself pursued by Care,
No matter what the end I seek;
My victories are small and few,
It matters not how hard I strive’
Each day the fight begins anew,
But fighting keeps my hopes alive.


My dreams are spoiled by circumstance,
My plans are wrecked by Fate or Luck;
Some hour, perhaps, will bring my chance,
But that great hour has never struck;
My progress has been slow and hard,
I’ve had to climb and crawl and swim,
Fighting for every stubborn yard;
But I have kept in fighting trim.


I have to fight my doubts away
And be on guard against my fears;
The feeble croaking of Dismay
Has been familiar through the years;
My dearest plans keep going wrong,
Events combine to thwart my will;
But fighting keeps my spirit strong,
And I am undefeated still!


S.E. Kiser

[Rowan]

Touching Shoulders


There’s a comforting thought at the close of the day,
When I’m weary and lonely and sad,
That sort of grips hold of my crusty old heart
And bids it be merry and glad.
It gets in my should and it drives out the blues,
And finally thrills through and through.
It is just a sweet memory that chants the refrain:
“I’m glad I touch shoulders with you!”


Did you know you were brave, did you know you were strong?
Did you know there was one leaning hard?
Did you know that I waited and listened and prayed,
And was cheered by your simplest word?
Did you know that I longed for that smile on your face,
For the sound of your voice ringing true?
Did you know I grew stronger and better because
I had merely touched shoulders with you?


I am glad that I live, that I battle and strive
For the place that I know I must fill;
I am thankful for sorrow, I’ll meet with a grin
What fortune may send, good or ill.
I may not have wealth, I may not be great,
But I know I shall always be true,
For I have in my life that courage you gave
When once I rubbed shoulders with you.


Unknown

[Rowan]

Excerpt from: The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

Then a woman said, Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.
And he answered:

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.

And how else can it be?

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.

Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow,” and others say, “Nay, sorrow is greater.”
But I say unto you, they are inseparable.

Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.


Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.

Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.

When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.

[Sarika]

"He who doubts from what he sees
Will never believe, do what you please.
If the sun and moon should doubt,
They'd immediately go out".

William Blake(1757-1827), Book of Thel

[Athene]

Those are great poems.