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 all human ties that bind me,

For the task my God assigned me,

For the bright hopes left behind me,

And the good that I can do.

I live to learn their story,

Who suffered for my sake;

To emulate their glory,

And follow in their wake;

Bards, patriots, martyrs, sages,

The noble of all ages,

Whose deeds crown History’s pages,

And Time’s great volume make.

I live to hail that season,

By gifted minds foretold,

When man shall live 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 needs assistance,

For the wrongs that need resistance,

For the future in the distance,

And the good that I can do!

~From McGuffey’s fifth reader~ 

I really loved this poem!