Poetry

Foregone Dreams

83 Comments

She wrote her dreams,
the big ones,
the small ones,
the plausible grails,
and the impossible fantasies,
with fluorescent ink,
in a diary, which she kept
always next to her
and she scrawled for years
without looking into the journal once

Decades had passed,
eons rolled up,
and with time
the dreams gradually faded away,

How in the beginning
she scribbled those wishes restlessly,
but as time went by
the pipe dreams drizzled away,
and now the dreams lay insentient
never remembered,
long forgotten,
like some yore of the past
lost in the darkness
of a rusty briefcase
stashed in the attic of a dilapidated house

And then one day
as she was cleaning the garret
she found her long lost diary
all dusty and wearing grime
in some corner
obscured in oblivion

She pulled it out with trembling hands
and rummaged the scrap to find a pencil
with the hope to tick
all the fulfilled dreams
as a mark of victory

With twinkle in her eyes
she mustered some courage,
and flipped through the long treasured thoughts,
but as she turned the pages
she found the dreams were too tall
and her desire to achieve way too short,
she stared at the old notebook
with obscurity and despair,
and wondered how her mundane life
had stolen away her dreams
abrading her hopes layer after layer,
and how some assumed responsibilities
had made her own priorities
reduce to some minuscule significance

But as they say it is never too late
so with hope in her eyes
and pride in her smile,
she marched to realize each one of her foregone dream,
to make it a reality
and she soared with renewed roar

Copyright © Shantanu Baruah

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83 thoughts on “Foregone Dreams”

  3. Thank you for this inspiration! i can really use it today…i love the words – assumed responsibilities become her priorities. 🙂 That’s what i am doing today — and God is so kind to remind me of my dreams — through your sweet words. Thank you again Shantanu. Feel so happy to read this. 🙂

  7. She never opened the diary for she was scared it will give her hope and reignite her dreams.That diary lies somewhere deep in the corner of her heart visible to none not even to her own

  15. but as she turned the pages
she found the dreams were too tall
and her desire to achieve way too short
    Superb write up … ❤️

  41. The words hit you hard… It’s like hearing the sound of Alarm after long as all this while you have been pressing the snooze button…Loved the poem💕

  49. Atta girl! We’re never too old to fulfill childhood dreams.

  53. Such. A beautiful piece and I love the ending ……..she soared with a renewed roar 😊🤗. ……that’s how it should be. 👏👏👏Bravo

  61. Yes, absolutely it’s never too late. Without dreams life would be too dreary but the drive to fulfill them is as important.

  72. I love this so much. A real story intertwined in your words of lost dreams and new hopes. Beautifully done.

  73. I finally stop crying long enough to comment.
    This is beautiful. This true, it’s not too late. Dream it, Pursue it!
    The time is Now…
    I will be attending a funeral of someone dear to my heart, was like a Mother to me and Grandmother to my daughters.
    The graveyard is filled with people who died, with buried dreams, untapped potential.
    Shantanu thanks for sharing this poem
    Yonnie💜🌸

  75. I appreciate your kind and thoughtful words. She a wonderful woman. Who lived a full life span. Changing and affecting the lives of like an array of Sunshine. She will will be missed, She had array of God’s Love for everyone. 💜

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