I had a pretty dream one night;
I told it to a friend - 
He ooh'ed and giggled in delight,
And was impressed no end.
I liked the smiles I got so much,
I told to all I knew
This dream of mine; my words were such
That day by day it grew.
Ideas forming in my mind,
Far shaper than my dream e'er was
Got joined on, mixed in, entwined
And through my friends they ran their course;

Making its way from friend to friend,
Until all knew, or so it seemed;
And when by vine my dream returned,
I'd quite forgot I'd had a dream.
On hearing thoughts so rarified
I shivered in delight;
As one with all my friends I cried:
This way of life is right!
These words have reached us from afar,
These sentences speak Truth
My life as nothing was thus far,
But here and now I end my youth.

From this point on I'll strive to live
Exactly as these words do say:
Take what is fair, and always give
Fight for my rights, don't run away;
But as I spake thus to myself
My memory played its trump:
My dream came back to me; I yelled
And sat down with a bump.
The origin by no means makes
The words themselves in any way bad;
And if there is someone they help - 
Well, you can see - I'm very glad.

But while the tale of the dream spreads
Among the many lands
And people hear, and cease to fight,
And sit down and join hands
Sing praise to the giraffes I dreamed
And all the fairies' wings
I sit alone, a hermit deemed,
And of the world I think.
Belief is quite enough for some,
It lets them let themselves forgive
But since I learnt from where it comes
I cannot also by it live

Sometimes another man appears
And stays a while to talk;
Like me, the army of Belief he fears,
For crowds can be controlled.
Like me, he sees beyond the dream,
The rules that make it good:
Thou shalt not covet, steal or kill,
And do thou what thou should.
Like me, he sees that these rules come
Not of the dream, but of our lives
The fabric stitched by fellow Man
As to survive he strives.

Rejecting them will neither bring
The fairies' wrath, nor the giraffes' - 
But that of those around; and this
Is so much worse, it makes me laugh
Go out, and enjoy yourselves
But touch thou not the lives around
For to decrease their joy will bring
More tears than in this world are found
And if it helps you to believe - 
Do as thou wilt; but keep the rules
Because infringing them achieves
Naught, gives naught and is cruel.