Dreams of Youth

I saw there in the distance,

Taking shape before my eye,

A tower of water vapor

Reaching upward to the sky.

The promise that it offered

Caused my heart within me leap

In joy for cooling moisture

That across the Plains did creep.

The swelling, spreading blossom

Seemed slowly drawing nigh

Yet in the heat it fizzled;

It was all an awful lie.

There within me sank

The beating organ in my chest

As I saw the withered grasses

Stretching far into the west.

I knew that it was normal,

Part of life's great ebb and flow;

I couldn't help but ponder

Why it sent my feelings low.

Deep within my being

Tiny sparks came into sight

Of dreams that had been shattered

Yet, still there was a light

Shining brightly in the distance,

Growing clearer in my head,

Of good times now remembered

In this life that I have led.

The things that once I cherished

Were now no longer sought;

Replaced by higher treasures

Which love and tears had bought

And I saw the fleeting vanity

Of each and every goal,

Knowing time, with healing answers,

Would bring peace within my soul.

Rising there before me

Were the things I'd held in vain

Dissolving in the droplets

Of gently falling rain.