Live Your Life

Chief Tecumseh 1768 (Ohio) – 1813 (Moravian Indian Reserve)



So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.
Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view,
and demand that they respect yours.
Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life.
Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people.

Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.

Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend,
even a stranger, when in a lonely place.
Show respect to all people and grovel to none.

When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living.
If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself.
Abuse no one and no thing,
for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision.

When it comes your time to die,
be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death,
so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time
to live their lives over again in a different way.
Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.

About this poem

‘Live Your Life’ by Chief Tecumseh is an easy-to-read and powerful poem. It was written with the intention of sharing the poet’s beliefs about how to live life with purpose and respect, and embrace death without fear. One of a few known poems by Tecumseh, an exerpt of this is featured in the 2012 Navy Seal movie, Act of Valor.

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Submitted by JokerGem on June 10, 2023

1:09 min read
1,325

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXXXX X XXA BXBA XXXXX
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 1,084
Words 233
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 5, 1, 3, 4, 5

Chief Tecumseh

Shawnee chief and warrior who promoted resistance to the expansion of the United States onto Native American lands. A persuasive orator, Tecumseh traveled widely, forming a Native American confederacy and promoting intertribal unity. Even though his efforts to unite Native Americans ended with his death in the War of 1812, he became an iconic folk hero in American, Indigenous, and Canadian popular history. more…

All Chief Tecumseh poems | Chief Tecumseh Books

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    "Live Your Life" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/161615/live-your-life>.

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