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Life's Purpose 122
Lyrics: H. W. Longfellow
Tune: Ron Kelly
Meter: 8s, 7s (8,7,8,7)
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 tomorrow
Find us farther than today.
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And departing leave behind us,
Footprints on the sands of time.
Let us then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
Northern Harmony Tunebook Index