Theme from Mahogany (Song)

Random Thoughts / Listening Pleasures

Reflection comes from one of my all-time favourite poets, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:
A Psalm of Life - What the heart of the young man said to the psalmist.

I got an email that initially upset me. No longer. Taking this moment to look back at the last binge ... the past year. Rest assured I am moving forward.

Listening: The haunting song "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" written by Michael Masser and Gerald Goffin. It was recorded by American singer Thelma Houston in 1973, then most notably popularized by Diana Ross as the theme to the 1975 movie Mahogany produced by Motown/Paramount in 1975.

A Psalm of Life

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"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 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.

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 sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,

   Sailing o’er life’s solemn 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."


Poem Credit:
Poetry Foundation. Accessed January 23, 2018.

Video Credit:
Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To). Youtube, uploaded by Shooofly. Accessed JAnuary 23, 2018.



(c) 2018. Inspired Pen. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.