Dreamers
James Barron Hope
Fools laugh at dreamers, and the dreamers smile
In answer, if they any answer make:
They know that Saxon Alfred could not bake
The oaten cakes, but that he snatched his Isle
Back from the fierce and bloody-handed Dane.
And so, they leave the plodders to their gains–
Quit money changing for the student’s lamp,
And tune the harp to gain thereby some camp,
Where what they learn is worth a kingdom’s crown;
They fashion bows and arrows to bring down
The mighty truths which sail the upper air;
To them the facts which make the fools despair
Become familiar, and a thousand things
Tell them the secrets they refuse to kings