A Pipe Dream

There’s a stream away off yonder that is calling me today;

I can hear above the traffic every word it has to say.

It is saying “come on hither, I am waiting here for you,

Please come out into the woodland, there is work for you to do.”

O, the endless roar of traffic cannot down that sweet appeal,

And I hear above the waters now the singing of a reel;

And a tautened line flies past me, and I dreamily behold

On the open age beneath me just a leaping bar of gold!

You may all poke fun at “pipe-dreams”, but thank God for these of mine,

Those that take me for a moment out beneath the birch and pine;

Out to where the brook is calling, as I hope ‘twill always do:

“Please come out into the woodland, there is something here for you.”

March 13, ‘06