I am tired of planning and toiling In the crowded hives of men, Heart-weary of building and spoiling, And spoiling and building again, And I long for the dear old river, Where I dreamed my youth away; For a dreamer lives forever, And a toiler dies in a day.
I am sick of the showy seeming, Of life that is half a lie; Of the faces lined with scheming In the throng that hurries by; From the sleepless thought's endeavor I would go where the children play; For a dreamer lives forever, And a thinker dies in a day.
I can feel no pride, but pity, For the burdens the rich endure; There is nothing sweet in the city But the patient lives of the poor. Oh, the little hands too skillful, And the child-mind choked with weeds! The daughter's heart grown willful And the father's heart that bleeds!