This boy’s a first-class dreamer, yes indeed…

His thoughts take off at supersonic speed,

And he is wont to let them freely soar

T’wards what the glorious future holds in store.

This boy is sometimes dreaming wide awake

That 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 drift

Towards a distant, undiscovered shore

That no one knew but him… and in his dream

The 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 distressed

As his exploring skills were put to shame.

He got an F because he’d fiercely claim

There was a colony named Everest.

While in the lab, he dreamed on with elation

He 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 spun

Out of the sun.

Yet when the teacher brought him down to earth

As 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 need

To 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