... not done often these days: Linking to a poem by Longfellow.
Notice that this is where the phrase "footprinst on the sands of time" originated. Longfellow coined lots of those ("ships that pass in the night" and "into each life some rain must fall" are two others).
Funny how comforting Longfellow is, even a century and more later. I haven't thought of H.W. in awhile, though Dana Gioia and I did write the entry on him for the _Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature_ a few years ago and during that time poems like this famous one were part of the daily soundtrack in my head. Dana showed me how to memorize poetry while walking, and it really works: Most poems conform to the beats of one's stride. Try it and see! (And Longfellow came up with lots of his poems while walking about -- he, like Dickens, was an incredible perambulator.)
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