O Brave And Faithful Dream Poem by Charles Chaim Wax

The day began
with the temperature
plummeting
closing in on zero
wondered if I should wear
a coat
decided to put one on
not wanting
to be a show off
told everyone at Spinoza high school
my mother bore me
on the steppes of Siberia
wasn’t true
but felt
it should have been true
I loved the cold so much
well,
we all had our little
dream.
Later that day
I pranced into The Teacher’s Center
ecstatic
below zero
soon to happen.
Just then Herman Hammer trudged in
saying,
“If I didn’t have bad luck
I wouldn’t have no luck at all.”
Couldn’t understand the man
a little while ago Bob Bacon
gave Hammer
two one hundred dollar bills.
“What’s going on? ” I asked.
“Blew it, Bernstein,
just lost Bacon’s two hundred
plus eight hundred more.”
“Weren’t you in class? ”
“It don’t take long
to make a phone call.”
“After all Bacon said
wha’d you bet on? ”
“A soccer game in Paraguay.”
“What? ”
“I follow every sport
in every country
on the face of the Earth.”
“Are you insane? ”
“Just wanna be rich—
my dream
quickest way
win a bundle
with a bet.”
“But you owe fortunes! ”
Suddenly a blast of wind
rattled windows
as frigid air
seeped into the room
and I smiled.
Herman Hammer stared at me
tears welling into his eyes
then streaming down his cheeks
finally dripping from his chin
well,
my heart ain’t made of stone
so I slipped him a ten
which he quickly took
whispering,
“There’s a Chess game
in India
which I know for a fact
is fixed
sure thing
and a twenty
could turn into two hundred
so Bacon
won’t be on my case.”
Another mighty gust
slammed Brooklyn
so I presented
Herman Hammer
the dream ticket
twenty
not asking
how he came by
such important information.