I recently re-read this little thing I wrote back in the summer of 2003. I need that perspective again...
"I knew you to be a hard man..."
Is it possible
To be at once ambitious
And idle?
To dream of glory
And to do nothing?
What is a dream
But a longing for
Some tangible change for the better,
Some possible or impossible ideal?
What is ambition
But the energy of dreams?
How does this fit with idleness?
--Unless--
Somewhere beneath the dream
Is the knowledge
That the ideal is impossible,
That betterment is unlikely;
And this is
The object
That quells the force
Of ambition.
Thus am I doomed
To waste away
My precious breaths
And hours
And days
And years.
--Unless--
I encounter
An irresistible force
That shakes the foundations
Of the knowledge
And speaks anew truth:
That the ideal is accomplished,
That betterment is eternal;
And overthrows the object
And propels me
By its limitless energy
To high achievement--
But only if
I surrender the dream
And the glory.
