Happy Birthday, Bram Stoker!

Happy Birthday to Bram Stoker, who would be 174 today. He was born November 8, 1847 in Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland. I hope you raise a toast to Mr. Stoker today and remember him by reading his biography and his writing.

Here is a poem he wrote in his journal, according to The Lost Journal of Bram Stoker: The Dublin Years, edited by Elizabeth Miller & Dacre Stoker.

Pain & Bravery

To have feeling but to lack its fit expression To be dumb amid the music-world of life To be still amid the roar & the progression Where the worker as he touches stamps possession - To be fettered by our hearts before the strife -

To be crippled ere the race - to lose the Real Which we erst have sadly toiled for and in vain To seek among the passing forever our Ideal This is pain.

To be hopeful looking towards a dull tomorrow To be joyous when our dearest hopes have fled To be strong of heart and mind amid our sorrow And when night is closing darkly round to borrow From the morning but a glimmer of its red To be patient through all wrong and tribulation And to trust Him who is mightier than the grave This despite the coward cynic’s protestation Is to be brave.

27th of October, 1872