As a senior in high school, like many seniors in high school today, I was asked for a quote to place under my senior yearbook photo. I had forgotten what I had written until tonight when I read the inspirational poem, My Lost Youth, by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow.

Inspirational Poem, My Lost Youth

At the age of 17, I couldn’t fully comprehend the meaning of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, My Lost Youth. But as I read the inspirational poem on aging, there was one repetitive line that stood out more than the others. I felt a strong connection to it but at first I didn’t understand why. That night as I began to fall asleep, the reason came to me.  My mother was losing a long battle against a slow growing, inoperable brain tumor. The loving memories of my childhood years would be all that I would have to hold on to as I traveled through my own life without her.

The line from this inspirational poem on aging I chose to place under my senior photo from the poem, My Lost Youth, was…

And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.

My quote is a line that was part of a verse Longfellow took from a Lapland song. I remember my friends asking me why I chose that line. I simply replied, “Because memories of my youth will always be with me.”  Now that I am in my grandmother years, I might add the poem’s lines…

And with joy that is almost pain

My heart goes back to wander there,

And among the dreams of the days that were,

I find my lost youth again.

Poem readings can be very personal. If you ask several people to read the same poem, they will most likely describe to you a different interpretation. Longfellow wrote My Lost Youth as a tribute to the home of his youthful years in Maine and to his own youthful years.

Even though I was never a young boy nor lived in Portland, Maine, I could relate to the theme of this inspirational poem. If you can support your reasons for your personal interpretation of a poem and have it make sense, then it’s never wrong.

Perhaps Not So Much of an Inspirational Poem

Now that I am approaching my 70’s, I have a second interpretation of this poem. As we age, our short-term memory tends to fade in and out, but our long-term memory…our thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts…I find my lost youth again.

To search for an inspirational poem that has meaning for you, visit Inspirational Poems & Quotes on NanasCorner.com.