Classic Poem

Building castles in the air,
Spanish castles, fine and fair,
Blanche is dreaming in her chair;
Keep on dreaming, Blanche.

Poverty is on the wall,
And its shadows downward fall
Drearily upon them all,
But the dreaming Blanche.

While they mourn their scanty fare,
And their daily toil and care,
She is ever dreaming there;
Keep on dreaming, Blanche.

While they chide thee in disdain,
For thy heedlessness of pain,
Thou art having all the gain,
In thy dreaming, Blanche.

While they only see their cot,
Bounded by its narrow lot,
Scant domains are heeded not
By the dreaming Blanche.

She is wandering far away, —
Building castles grand and gay, —
Growing grander every day;
Keep on dreaming, Blanche.

Stately mansions, — there they stand,
In Atlantis fairy-land,
By delicious breezes fanned;
Keep on dreaming, Blanche.

Ocean surges rise and fall
'Neath the turrets slim and tall,
'Gainst a battlemented wall,
In thy dreaming, Blanche.

Where the summer shadows hide,
On the sunny southern side,
There a garden stretches wide, —
There is dreaming Blanche.

Friends of rare and costly mien,
Such as we have never seen,
In that Paradise serene,
Walk with dreaming Blanche.

Blanche is queen in these domains;
Blanche o'er all this beauty reigns,
And a queenly state sustains;
Keep thy dreaming, Blanche.

Though they tell thee how unreal
Are these visions, and ideal,
I will tell thee they are real,
And to keep on dreaming.

I will tell thee, for I know
How their splendors come and go,
That the truest life we know
Is in dreaming, Blanche.

In our fair Atlantis land
We have riches at command,
Which they cannot understand:
Let us dream forever.