A Winter’s Dream

By D.C. Young

Last night as I sat in my room and watched the street below,
I gazed out past the city lights and all the falling snow.

Then all at once my mind was swept off to a winter’s dream,
where all the truths surrounding me were just as they should seem.

I dreamed of how it was back then so many years ago,
of all the pleasures in this world which only children know.

Yet foolishly in undue time I longed to be a man,
forsaking all those precious years as only children can.

I wished away the days of youth which only God could give,
then turned my ship into the wind and made this life I live.

With broken masts and battered sails I steered that rugged course,
and in the end the route I chose led only to remorse.

There was no triumph in my heart nor glory in my eyes,
I was not half the man I wished nor nearly half as wise.

The home l missed and ones I loved for which my heart had yearned,
no longer waited for this child whom as a man returned.

Awakened from my winter’s dream I gazed upon the snow,
and mourned the loss of years gone by and things I did not know.