The poem I carry is a very small piece of ‘A Shropshire Lad’ by A E Housman and goes:

Clay lies still, but blood’s a rover;
Breath’s a ware that will not keep.
Up, lad: when the journey’s over
There’ll be time enough to sleep.

I first read it on a tall ship voyage from Oban to Aberdeen on the Malcolm Miller, where I met my husband to be, John. The message of the poem to me then, and now, is to enjoy life, no matter how exhausting it can be, because we can rest at the end.