French And Anglo-Saxon Dreams Poem by gershon hepner

Rêver means in French to rave
and to spin an idle fancy,
not being of your conscience slave,
alert with waking sycophancy.
The word to dream in English comes
from gladness, merriness and mirth,
mind-dances that like sugarplums
spin in a spiral, down-to-earth.

In the boudoirs and the salons
Frenchmen like to rave and spin;
Anglo-Saxons keep their balance
stiffening their upward chin
in the corridors and hallways,
drawing rooms and in the kitchen
where imagination always
down-to-earth cannot enrichen.

12/11/00