They pushed their glowing joys aside, They laid their shining hopes away; They hearkened, pale and starry-eyed, And closed the books and dropped the play. They said, "There is a greater thing Than fame or golden harvesting. Out of the storm there came a cry And we will answer, though we die!" They answered from the seething plain, They answered from the reeling height, To the last reaching-forth, in pain, They sent their answer down the night: "Though hope allure and love enthrall And precious, youth and glory seem, Sweeter than all, greater than all Is to give all to a dream!" They will not come again to play The old games through the summer day, Or seek the cool woods or the brooks Or open now the dusty books. Yet, where in crowds, with restless feet, The getters and the spenders meet, There is, at times, a strange deep sound Not from the sky, not from the ground, And voices such as music hath That shakes the heart and chokes the breath: "Though hope allure and love enthrall And precious, youth and glory seem, Sweeter than all, greater than all Is to give all to a dream!" To sue his kith and kin, -- On its old orbit swings this earth; Day comes, night comes; the seasons pass; And holy memories, amid mirth, Are but shadows on a glass. Men may forget and time erase Of name and deed the last faint trace; But in still hours, amid their joys, Unborn, undreamed of girls and boys Shall of a sudden be aware Of something not of earth or air, A burning brow, a glowing eye, A flame, a presence and a cry: "Though hope allure and love enthrall And precious, youth and glory seem, Sweeter than all, greater than all Is to give all to a dream!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: PENNIWIT, THE ARTIST by EDGAR LEE MASTERS HYBRIDS OF WAR: A MORALITY POEM: 2. CAMBODIA by KAREN SWENSON A MORE ANCIENT MARINER by BLISS CARMAN THE DARK MAN by NORA (CHESSON) HOPPER CHRISTMAS DAY IN THE WORKHOUSE by GEORGE ROBERT SIMS |