A lover dreams that he’ll be loved;

He plans and plots and schemes.

He writes his sweetheart poems in

Pursuance of his dreams.

He brings her flowers and candy;

Not an effort will he shirk.

He tries so hard he soon forgets

That planning will not work.

The college grad is confident

She’ll be the firm’s first choice.

And get exactly what she wants;

She’s always had a voice

In what she calls her “destiny,”

But soon her eyes will mist

With tears when – there her name is –

At the bottom of the list!

And then there is the scribbler who

Is certain he’ll succeed,

As long as there are people

Who remember how to read.

His first book…a best seller

Or at least, that’s what he thought.

And wasn’t he surprised when

All his efforts came to naught?

And last, we meet the scientist

Who thinks she’ll find a cure

For devastating illnesses

That no one should endure.

She throws her heart in research, but

No matter how she tries,

Each one she seeks to rescue

In the long run sadly dies.

Disheartened were they, one and all –

The man whose heart did throb,

And also the young graduate

Who didn’t get the job.

The writer and the scientist

With words and formulae

Were certain from their efforts

That they’d quickly seize the day.

And they weren’t wrong nor were they right,

For simply, they were young,

They thought that they had labored long,

But they had just begun.

The lover had to learn that slow

And steady wins the race,

Eventually, he’d win her heart

(Though at a slower pace).

The college grad discovered

A’s in school could belly flop,

If she had truly thought that

She could start out at the top.

The writer, when rejected, had

At all costs to resist

The instinct for self-pity,

And persist, persist, persist.

The dedicated scientist learned

That breakthroughs often come

To those who work for many years…

Not always to the young.

The lesson? Well, it’s obvious…

(It’s tough, though, to admit)

Achieving dreams is difficult,

But never, never quit.

Copyright © Shelly Reuben, 2018.

Shelly Reuben’s books have been nominated for Edgar, Prometheus, and Falcon awards. For more about her writing, visit www.shellyreuben.com