Explore "A Pinch of Salt" by Robert Graves on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
When a dream is born in you / With a sudden clamorous pain, / When you know the dream is true / And lovely, with no flaw nor stain, / O then, be careful, or with sudden clutch / You'll hurt the delicate thing you prize so much.
Dreams are like a bird that mocks, / Flirting the feathers of his tail. / When you seize at the salt-box / Over the hedge you'll see him sail. / Old birds are neither caught with salt nor chaff: / They watch you from the apple bough and laugh.
Poet, never chase the dream. / Laugh yourself and turn away. / Mask your hunger, let it seem / Small matter if he come or stay; / But when he nestles in your hand at last, / Close up your fingers tight and hold him fast.