At five he wants to be a fireman And has a veritable passion to wear red; He dreams of hatchets, hose and ladder, And saving little Cousin Lucia's life; At seven a picturesque cowboy strikes his fancy, And Tom Mix becomes his cherished idol: He visualizes the colorful Western prairies And the excitement of the rodeo; When his years advance to ten he feels the urge To be a G-Man, and secret codes cause His little brow to wrinkle with intensity; He now captures bandits on a large scale. At twelve he wants to discover new worlds And sail the heavens in a gigantic plane; Now Lindbergh is the hero of the day, And welcoming crowds acclaim his glory in parade. At fifteen he yearns to build a temple to the sky, That dwarfs the Empire State Building fifty feet And is the most majestic in all the world; Now he preaches a stirring sermon to the masses. At seventeen he dreams of winning the Pulitzer Prize For a literary achievement that is without peer, That brings in royalties by the millions And makes him eligible to the Hall of Fame. And the years roll on in enthusiastic sequence; He envisions himself as another Alex Carrel, A Henry Ford and, eventually, President of the United States. But at twenty-four he's married to dark-eyed Loraine And renting an ivy-covered bungalow on the outskirts Of a grubby little town that has no special place upon the map. And he's wondering if he might summon up courage enough To ask the boss for another raise . . . ! After all, he @3is@1 the chief-shipping-clerk and Quite indispensable. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONNET by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON THE BIRTH SONG OF CHRIST by EDMUND HAMILTON SEARS CANE: NOVEMBER COTTON FLOWER by JEAN TOOMER THE MAYFLOWERS by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER A DREAM, OR THE TYPE OF THE RISING SUN by JEAN ADAMS THE PASSERS BY by AL-RADI BILLAH |