Sunday School Voices ‎#190

190. Life Is Real, Life Is Earnest

1 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.

2 Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each tomorrow
Find us farther than today.

3 Lives of good men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime;
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;

4 Footprints that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
Some forlorn and ship-wrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

5 Let us then be up and doing,
Nor our onward course abate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

Text Information

• First Line: Life is real, life is earnest
• Title: Life Is Real, Life Is Earnest
• Author: H. W. Longfellow
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1910
• Topic: Diligence; Familiar Hymns

Tune Information

• Name: WILMOT
• Composer: C. M. von Weber