A New Year’s poem, encouragement to your dreams both realistic and reasonable. –Michael
They’re the “utterly foolish dreamers,”
Who dream of a better day ;
They’re not the plotters and schemers
Who work for glory and pay,
But with confidence undiminished
They dream of a world made new,
And after their days are finished
The wonderful dream comes true!
They’re the fighters who fight undaunted
For the utterly hopeless cause,
Ridiculed, jeered and taunted,
With never a lull or pause;
But after they’ve fought and perished,
And after their work is done,
The cause they have loved and cherished
Is lifted to fame and won!
They know the hope and the yearning,
The sting of the blind world’s scorn,
But never the sunshine burning,
The skies of their visioned morn;
They’re the warriors fine and splendid,
The fond and the faithful few,
Whose battles and work are ended,
Or ever the dreams come true!
###############
From Songs of the Workaday World, published by the George H. Doran Company, New York, 1915.
Songs of the Workaday World is available for viewing and downloading (as a pdf) at the Internet Archive; the collection of poems was made available by the University of Michigan, by the University of California, and also by the University of California Libraries. Songs is also available via Google Books. The Berton Braley Cyber Museum has a copy of “The Pioneers” that you can read online.