A Psalm of Life

10/01/22 • 7 min

Those of us with CLL leukemia could always use a bit of encouragement. So, here to do just that, is the great Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

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 art, 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 labor and to wait.

Those of us with CLL leukemia could always use a bit of encouragement. So, here to do just that, is the great Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

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 art, 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 labor and to wait.

Previous Episode

Coming Out: Telling friends about your CLL leukemia

If you’re new here, my name is Jim Smith and I have Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, a.k.a. CLL. Today I thought we’d talk about coming out. Oh, I don’t me THAT kind of coming out! I mean when you come out and let your friends know you have leukemia.

For those of you who just received the news that you have C.L.L., I don’t know if you’re like me, but maybe some of you have decided that you’re not wanting to tell people you have leukemia.

I was like that. Of course I had to tell my family. I did tell two people who are very dear to us because I didn’t want them to hear it from someone else, but even with them I was afraid the fact that I have leukemia might change our relationship.

Sometimes when people hear you have cancer, they don’t know how to respond to that, they feel uncomfortable around you and don’t know how to act. Because they worry that they might say something wrong or do something wrong

So there is a concern about things changing.

This episode will help you learn how to solve that and rebuild your friendships.