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Happy Birthday Longfellow

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Good Morning Everyone. 18 degrees this morning and overcast but, all in all, still a good day for a swim in the sea of life. Today is the birthday of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the great 19th century poet, born in Portland, Maine on this day in 1807. He was a prolific writer with The Song of Hiawatha, The Ride of Paul Revere, My Lost Youth, The Village Blacksmith, and many more poems to his credit.

I remember having to perform Evangeline in high school and this phrase sticks with me:

Neither locks had they to their doors nor bars to their windows;
But their dwellings were open as day and the hearts of the owners;
There the richest was poor and the poorest lived in abundance.
Evangeline. Part i. 1.

We still don’t lock our doors. A few other passages for your day:

Where’er a noble deed is wrought,
Where’er is spoken a noble thought,
Our hearts in glad surprise
To higher levels rise.
Santa Filomena.


My soul is full of longing
For the secret of the Sea,
And the heart of the great ocean
Sends a thrilling pulse through me.
The Secret of the Sea.

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.
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Michele B said…
I love Longfellow! He is one of my favorite poets. My mom used to read his poems to me when I was a little girl. A Psalm of Life is at the top of my list.

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.

Keep up the blog. I am enjoying every line. Congrats to Sawyer for his fabulous catch. Stay warm.
Hugs, Michele
February 27, 2007 at 10:09 AM
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