Brandon Stewart - A Psalm of Life

This piece is titled "A Psalm of Life" and it is a setting of the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem of the same name. In it we follow the dialog of a "forlorn, shipwrecked brother" and the the mentor that puts him back on course.

Performed by the Clark College Concert Choir under the direction of April Brookins Duvic with soloists Shannon Anderson and Jared Abraham.

* It is dedicated to all those who have left their footprints in the sands of time and compelled me to do the same.

Brandon Stewart - 2011


-Poetry-

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 thou 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.

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 sand of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solenm 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.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• a cappella
• classical music
• music
• Brandon
• Stewart
• Psalm
• Life
• Henry
• Wadsworth
• Longfellow
• Clark
• College
• Concert
• Choir

[MusicalArchitect]

@RocknPak Thanks! I'm glad you liked it.

[RocknPak]

This is amazing!