Editor's note: "Dead Poets Society" said: "Poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are the reasons for our survival." The poet Whitman said in his poem: "What is the meaning of living in it? ah! self! ah! life! Answer: Because of your existence. Let life be, make it one; for the vital drama goes on, for you may offer a poem.

O Me! O Life!

O Me! O life! of the questions of these recurring,

Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill'd with the foolish,

Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I,

and who more faithless?)

Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the

struggle ever renew'd,

Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see

around me,

Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me

intertwined,

The question, O me! so sad, recurring-What good amid these, O me,

O life?

Answer.

That you are here-that life exists and identity,

That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.