"There was a time..."

"There was a time
when men were kind.
When their voices were soft
and their words inviting..."
- Alain Boublil

I have dreams that
are my own,
and dreams I share with
men of vision,
women of
charity,
children who refuse to
give in to the
cynicism of
self.

I've heard their
dreams in
speeches,
seen on them placards,
felt them pounding
under the feet of a million
men
marching for liberty,

dreams I've reached into the
heavy air of
a Washington afternoon
and
grasped so tightly
in heart,
that
my pulse became a
pledge to
never let
go
until we
had overcome...

I've dreamed dreams that
seemed but specters on the horizon of
a thousand fallen hopes,
and dreams that
held the lives of countless in
the balance.

I've fought for the right to
dream of freedom
and wept for the
freedom to dream

I've marched and
rallied,
chanted and sung,

I've prayed for the imprisoned
and wept for the ones who died
never knowing
life without chains...

I dreamed that men from different sides
could build bridges of
kindness towards a common
future,
and that mothers would
never forget to remember
that
for every child we
send to war,
there is another mother whose
son,
or daughter,
faces them
across the
great
divide...

I still dream dreams...
but my dreams are simpler now...

I dream that men will be kinder,
that children will not go hungry,
that women can walk safely on the streets at night,
that all are sheltered,
that when we don't agree,
our words are soft,
and our
hearts are open...

to the power of Love.

for this,

I dream...

"... I dreamed
that love would never die.
I dreamed that God would be forgiving..."
― ibid.

I heard this version of "I Dreamed a Dream" -- as sung by Anne Hathaway in the trailer for the new release of Les Miserable -- and found it heart-breakingly beautiful, and hauntingly lovely.