"Art Is Long, and Time Is Fleeting..."

In Helon Habila's novel Waiting for an Angel, I came across a line in a character's speech that reminded me of one of my favorite poems, called "A Psalm of Life" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. In the novel, James says to Lomba, "Some day you'll finish that novel. What matters right now is life. Remember, life is short, but art is very long." This highlights the greatest message I drew from the novel.

Since the poem is so fantastic, I'll post the whole thing:

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 art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

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

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 sands of time ;

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

The poem urges the importance of finding purpose in life, being productive, and living a fulfilling existence. When James is speaking to Lomba, he wants him to forget about trying to finish the novel that has been his primary focus (while the rest of his life disintegrated and became miserable) and instead concentrate on finding happiness and success in other ways. The novel is set in Nigeria during the 1990s, a period of chaos under the rule of despotic military dictator General Sani Abacha. Lomba is demoralized by violence, injustice, and witnessing the many perils of close friends, and at this point in the novel has dropped out of school and is living as an impoverished failed novelist who just received a job as a journalist. Lomba comes to realize that in order to be happy, in order to remain human, he has to take action.

I am fairly sure that the meaning of "art is long, and time is fleeting" in both the poem and the novel means "art is long-lasting (but life is not)." However, it also seems possible that the poem means something more along the lines of "there is a lot of art in the world, and only a short amount of time to discover it." In either case, both the poem and the novel ultimately instruct the same thing: act in the present and pursue progress to achiveve a meaningful, fulfilling, and happy life.