Classic Poem

In every human heart
A dreaming Jacob lies,
And in the dream the ladders grow
That reach up to the skies.

It was a white-faced waif,
Cold, hunger-thin, astray:
" Now what in all the world," one cried,
" Would you like best to-day?"

He thought of body's plight:
Would it be doughnuts sweet,
Or cakes, or tarts, or cherry-pie?
Perhaps a candy-treat?

Two wan eyes starred with light:
" O may I really choose?
I want" (in whisper-words it came)
" Some — red — morocco — shoes!"

The old, old dream divine
Of Beauty, ever new!
The bread we need, — the rose we want;
The bread, — but roses, too.

And yet shall dawn a day,
The day of dreams come true,
When all, with bread, shall have the rose, —
Bread, and the roses, too!

Meanwhile the gates swing soft,
And down the secret stair,
To comfort mortals on the road,
The angels still repair.