I’ve always liked Longfellow’s poem “A Psalm of Life,” which I first read in high school. Here’s the last stanza: Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait. When I first read it, the last word felt wrong to me. In a poem that is all about how time is fleeting and how we must be a hero in the strife, it seemed weird to end the poem with an admonishment to learn to wait. Since then, I think I’ve come around to better understanding the Read more…