This boy's a first-class dreamer, yes indeed…His thoughts take off at supersonic speed,And he is wont to let them freely soarT'wards what the glorious future holds in store. This boy is sometimes dreaming wide awakeThat he's a writer blessed with world-wide fame,He sees himself as Tolstoy without shame –While he keeps dreaming, that's a piece of cake,Though for the moment, if he's asked to write,He finds it hard to get the spelling right. While learning geography the day before,He dreamed of having an explorer's gift,And he allowed his longing thoughts to driftTowards a distant, undiscovered shoreThat no one knew but him… and in his dreamThe book was kept unopened by his side.He dreamed he roamed the whole earth, far and wide,Down to the coastland lying most extreme. Yet on the next day he was most distressedAs his exploring skills were put to shame.He got an F because he'd fiercely claimThere was a colony named Everest. While in the lab, he dreamed on with elationHe was the greatest genius of them all,And he thought out, in his imagination, Inventions worthy of his lofty call: Food out of air,Warm clothes to wear,Cleverly spunOut of the sun. Yet when the teacher brought him down to earthAs if he meant to call the dreamer's bluff,The question quenched his otherworldly mirth,And he replied that carbon was… some stuff. Now dreaming isn't altogether wrong.It surely helps your sluggish thoughts along…Yet there's one thing you shouldn't disregard:In order to fulfill your dreams, you needTo go to school and daily sow their seed.In other words, you've got to study hard. from The Nib Is Sharpened to a Piercing Point, Tineretului, 1963
by Mihnea Moisescu (b. 1930)
