I have been journeying down my yellow brick road of life for nearly eight decades. During that journey, I have mentioned the trauma of moving from a nice, middle-class community and elementary school in Pennsauken, NJ to Mt. Lebanon, PA. Mt. Lebanon was a golden ghetto both financially and educationally. Along with the general feeling of seeing myself as dumb and poor, I hated English classes. We had to memorize 100-lines of poetry or prose each semester while in high school.

I really dreaded reciting lines of famous poems or prose, especially in front of Mrs. Davis, who I had in both my junior and senior years in high school. It was with fear and trembling that I would come to school early or stay after school and recite some stanza or two that I had memorized. Mrs. Davis expected her students to flawlessly recite passages that we had picked to memorize. Everyone dreaded reciting lines a half-century ago for Mrs. Davis.

That being said, I still can recall many parts that I memorized decades ago. I’m 78 years old and would be willing to bet any of my classmates that I could remember more parts of the poems and prose today than they could. If anyone from the class of 1961 reads this essay, I challenge you. And I thought that I was dumb. Never has a day gone by since then that I don’t think about something I memorized many years ago.

Last week, I wrote an article about Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven. I memorized the first stanza for Mrs. Davis in my senior year of high school. Today’s essay is a sequel to that article last week in which I used Poe’s first stanza to explain my feelings about my medical condition, plantar fasciitis.

The other day, Ti Ti emailed me regarding beginning her second year at Gusto University. COVID-19 and the coup have caused major problems for everyone in that Myanmar, which includes attending school. Therefore, she is taking her classes online.

Ti Ti sent me this photo in her email. Gusto mailed her those four books. She was quick to point out that these were reference books, not textbooks.

Today, Moh Moh sent me a picture of Ti Ti sleeping after hours of studying. I’m an overly protective grandfather and should have suggested using the reference books as a pillow.

It was then that I recalled the opening stanza of The Raven, which I made a slight tweak of the last line.

Therefore, Ti Ti, this part of the essay is for you. Now, the others that might happen upon this article can continue to read it. Nevertheless, PaPa Al wrote this for you.

Ti Ti, your PaPa Al cares for you and your sisters. While writing the first part of this essay, I remembered two additional poems by Poe that I had memorized while in high school. The first poem was Annabelle Lee.

Annabelle Lee, at first glance, sounds like a poem about a little boy who is infatuated with his girlfriend, Annabelle Lee. However, the little boy mourns the loss of his girlfriend. Nevertheless, Poe’s poem is a metaphor for fleeting dreams. Essentially, merely because you wish to possess something doesn’t mean that your dreams will all come true. Sometimes, you will fail.

The other poem was Eldorado.

Eldorado was about a young knight looking for Eldorado, but his quest was elusive. The knight has grown old without finding this wondrous place. He asks a fellow traveler about finding Eldorado, and the shade replied,

Both Annebelle Lee and Eldorado are about dreaming. I have dreamed dreams thousands of times in my journey down the yellow brick road of my life. Some were realized, and some weren’t. Nonetheless, I realized that it was essential that I rode on. Failure isn’t a pleasant feeling, but quitting is far worse than failing.

I know that you want a couple examples. So, Ti Ti, here are two. Nearly a decade ago, I traveled to Myanmar to interview the Lady, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and failed. I continued my trip despite that setback. It was then that I met a cute kid who wanted to play Scrabble with me.

The other failure is that I won’t be back to visit my family during winter break in a couple of months. You, your family, and I were going on our second family tour together. Failure isn’t a pleasant feeling, but I will continue to dream dreams about another family tour and being at your college graduation.

So, I will ride, boldly ride, and return to my Eldorado. I swear to you that I shall be back. Bobby Kennedy, who is my most important mentor, said, “Some men see things as they are and say, why; I dream things that never were and say, why not.”