Tom Gray's Dream
"Tom Gray's Dream" is a poem written by western Illinois poet Retta M. Brown (born September 18, 1893).
Tom Gray was a farmer's son, born in Indiana on November 27, 1852, whose family moved to Mercer County, Illinois. During a drunken stupor, he experienced a frightening dream that moved him to cease alcohol abuse. His niece, Retta M. Brown, wrote the poem and immortalized the nightmare. Alcohol recovery groups and certain churches have widely circulated the poem, usually without attribution.
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“And the Angel told Tom if hed be a good boy,
Hed have God for his father & never want joy.
And so Tom awoke and we rose in the dark
And got with our bags & our brushes to work.
Tho the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm,
So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.”
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“Ruin seize thee, ruthless king!
Confusion on thy banners wait,”
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“There is nothing truer than myth: history, in its attempt to realize myth, distorts it, stops halfway; when history claims to have succeeded this is nothing but humbug and mystification. Everything we dream is realizable. Reality does not have to be: it is simply what it is.”
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