Classic Poem

As children play with toys,
So men with hopes and fancies:
The little ones with romp and noise
Build card-frail, gold romances;
Their elders through the perilous years
Build dreams—and wake to toil and tears.

But, old or young the same,
The glittering baubles please them;
And be it fame or game,
These make-believes release them
From iron circumstance, from drear
Realities that choke them here.