Life Changing Poems for Hard Times

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

  Finds 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.

If you can keep your head when all about you   

   Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

   But make allowance for their doubting too;   

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

   Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

   And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   

   If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

   And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

   Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

   And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

   And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

   And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

   To serve your turn long after they are gone,   

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

   Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,   

   Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

   If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

   With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   

   And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Out of the night that covers me,

      Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

      For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

      I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

      My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

      Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

      Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

      How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

      I am the captain of my soul.

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,

and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible without surrender

be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly;

and listen to others,

even the dull and the ignorant;

they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,

they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,

you may become vain and bitter;

for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;

it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs;

for the world is full of trickery.

But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;

many persons strive for high ideals;

and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.

Especially, do not feign affection.

Neither be cynical about love;

for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment

it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,

gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.

But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.

Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,

be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,

no less than the trees and the stars;

you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you,

no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,

whatever you conceive Him to be,

and whatever your labors and aspirations,

in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,

it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful.

Strive to be happy.