THE DREAM

I dreamt of a life time of quietness and peace
I dreamt of children learning at home with my friends

Alexander Solzenitsyn told them of evil and power and faith and hope
Charles Dickens told them of beauty and friendship and courage and love
Moses told them of the Creator and his laws and the courage it takes to follow him
Solomon taught my son of honor, and respect, and how to escape liars and thieves
My father Abraham taught them patience and hope and sacrifice
My grandfather Job taught them philosophy, and the peace that comes with humility

I dreamt of a home of art
The towering columns of strength and greatness
The gentle arches of transcendence and beauty
The sunlight hallways of truth
and the open porches of freedom

The order of symmetry and the beauty of graceful curves led my children in
assurance and peace, inspiration and knowledge
The colors made them happy and alive

painted with soft oranges and yellows
the muted reds and greens of fertility
All under the majesty of heaven’s royal blue

I dreamt of a home that spoke through the ages
the questions of Aristotle
the wisdom of Cicero
the rhetoric of Pericles
and the strength of Roman rule

I saw a distant ocean’s rolling swells capped with tufts of frothy white
and knelt in a juicy garden of tomatoes, garlic and jalapenos
I felt the warm breeze of summer moving the limbs of a walnut tree
And my children learned of patience and fruitfulness and work and simplicity

I saw a field with a dog and a child chasing the end of the world in a mysterious new land

I saw heaven, and this was my home

Fritz Berggren
16 January 2002
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