BachUS Gallery: On the Phone with God

'on the phone with god' is bach's creation expressing his gratitude after reading 'a psalm of life', poem written by henry wadsworth longfellow.

grateful that he can express his artistic work through reclaimed, recycled, repurposed and upcycled material, and his yearning to be useful and creative, bach has accepted the designation "artist".

knowing that phone booths are no longer useful, and sitting around in junk and recycling yards, or just being useless where they were once useful, bach's creative juices to build 'on the phone with god' came alive. using his signature garden plant theme, and his liking of the new pope, the final blessings of the saint francis statue sealed the piece, and thus earned the title 'on the phone with god'.

A Psalm of Life

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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 are, to dust thou returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each tomorrow
Find us farther than today.

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 sand of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solenm 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.