To Dream or Not to Dream

To dream or not to dream–that is what everyone must decide:

Whether ’tis nobler to risk the fall to fly,

to work, to fight, to dance, to reach, to die.

Or to risk the label ‘fool,’ to be a child, to hope.

To dream is to accept the perception childish, foolish.

But to dream is to suffer disappointment, heart in the dust,

shattered pieces across the floor.

Perhaps ’tis nobler to not. To die, to sleep–

To dream no more–and by doing so deter disappointment.

To set, to stay, to crawl, to lull, to end.

And, doing so, to spare from heartache, to draw away, to shelter.

There is no distance to fall if you never fly;

there is no height to stumble if you never try.

But to not is to suffer hollowness, spirit in the dust,

empty pieces across the floor.

To dream is to risk heart: broken, bruised.

To not is to risk life: unlived, wasted.

So who would bear the heart break of a broken dream,

the dagger of not quite, the bloodshed of fallen short

for the ‘if’ of a dream?

But who would bear the burden of a bound spirit,

the burn of life unlived, the sting of what if

for the ease of barren ground?

To dream or not to dream–that is the question:

Whether ’tis nobler to risk the fall to fly,

to work, to fight, to dance, to reach, to die.

m.d.