A: Good morning, sir. Can I help you?
B: Yes. I’m interested in going on holiday somewhere in the Caribbean.
A: OK. And when would you like to travel?
B: I fancy taking a trip sometime in the spring.
A: Great! And how long are you hoping to stay?
B: About two weeks. That’ll be long enough to relax and enjoy the sun.
A: Very good, sir. I can see that there are two package deals available for the first two weeks of May, one for the Dominican Republic and the other for Turks and Caicos.
B: Turks and Caicos sound interesting. But will I have to get there by boat?
A: Not necessarily. There’s an airport there. However, you may want to take a boat if you’d like to go touring around the islands.
B: Sounds good. Can I book and pay by credit card now?
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.
