Poetry

WHAT I LIVE FOR

I live for those who love me, whose hearts are kind and true, For the heaven that smiles above me, And awaits my Spirit too; For the human ties that bind me, for the task by God assigned me, For the bright hopes left behind me, And the good that I can do.

I live to learn their story who've suffered for my sake, To emulate their glory, And to follow in their wake; bards, patriots, martyrs, sages, The noble of all ages, Whose deeds crowd history's pages And time's great volume make.

I, live to hold communion with all that is divine, To feel there is a union 'Twixt Nature's heart and mine; To profit by affliction, Reap truths from fields of fiction, Grow wiser from conviction, And fulfill each grand design.

I live to hail that season, By gifted minds foretold, when men Shall rule by reason, And not alone by gold; when man to man united, And every wrong thing righted, The whole world shall be lighted As Eden was of old.

I live for those Who love me, For those who know me true, For the Heaven that Smiles above me, And awaits my spirit, too; For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that I can do.

By George Linnaeus