Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1838
Martin Simpson wrote in 1993 that this tune was composed by Lotus Dickey of Indiana. Pete Sutherland probably learned it directly from Dickey.
Nightingale: Regain / Psalm of Life / Plant Un Chou
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWA99UGZ0iU
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. Chorus: 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. Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait.