We Have Come For The Dream
Leave a commentMarch 25, 2013 by phicks2012
I participate in the SCA (The Society of Creative Anachronism). Re-creating the Historical Middle Ages is my hobby (aside from Gardening and Do-It-Yourself, and Writing, and all of the other things I do), and I became involved in this hobby many years ago because I was looking for something noble and hopeful and romantic in a world that I already saw darkening around me.
Over the years, I’ve learned that the SCA is far from perfect. Human nature is such that even people who gravitate together because most of them are looking for the lingering ghosts of chivalry in a world of opportunism are not all truly imbued with the sort of spirit that makes them chivalrous. They can dress in Medieval attire, and go through the motions without really internalizing the dream of it, and to those who have thought to bring the blind ambition and pettiness, and the sense of entitlement so prevalent in today’s society with them into the SCA, I wrote the cautionary verse below.
Fortunately, I’ve also found that the sorts of people attracted to this hobby tend to be romantics at heart, and are far more likely to embrace high ideals and honor than most of those I see around me in the world every day, and over the years I’ve met a great many truly wonderful and noble people. They mean the world to me, and I Thank God for them!!
We Have Come for The Dream
We have come for The Dream, from a world that’s forsaken
The rituals of courtesy, honor and truth.
We are no longer children with ideals unshaken,
And so must we reach for the dreams of our youth
We have come for a gentleness that we’ve found missing,
Each needing a life touched by chivalry’s hand.
Do we stand with our swords in the sun reminiscing,
Or live out The Dream as convictions demand?
We have come for a place where the pettiness falters,
Where kindness can matter and ethics prevail.
Shall we bow down our heads at expediency’s altars,
Or speak out for honor, in silks or in maille?
We have come from a time when the trappings of power
Weigh more on the scales than the livery of hope.
Do we bring that all with us into the white tower
Where once were found dreams of a different scope?
We have come for a world where the banners fly proudly
From a world where the idols are fallen by choice;
Where folk follow after who speaks the most loudly.
It may be that truth has a gentler voice.
We have come for The Dream, from a world that’s forsaken
The rituals of courtesy, honor and truth.
We are no longer children with ideals unshaken,
And so must we reach for the dreams of our youth
[Copywright 14 February, 2008]
First Published in the April 2008 issue of Popular Chivalry
