dreams.

A Dream Deferred

by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

what are dreams if they never come true?
Langston hughes wrote about dreams deferred. I never quite understood what he meant until now. I completely and totally get it.

I have so many things I want to do in life. I feel like some of those things are being pushed aside or put on the back-burner. things like: getting my masters. traveling. the dreams you have when you are young of how life will be when you get old.

so what happens to those dreams? do you just forget they ever existed. i feel like that is lying to yourself. I do not believe life was meant to throw our dreams away. i do realize that while we are younger we are in a different place in life, and as we grow older we have a different outlook and different ideas. however, i feel that these dreams of mine. these wishes, goals are things that are not unreasonable or things that i only wanted and dreamed of when i was younger.

i want to life and enjoy life thoroughly. i want them most of every opportunity. i want people in my life who will enjoy it with me as well.

i wonder what dreams langston hughes had that caused him to write this poem..i wonder if he was influenced by robert frost's the road not taken. maybe he just decided to write about the road not taken, but it is not like he wasn't famous or educated. part of me feels that if mr. hughes and mr. frost himself had dreams that were deferred, then how am i myself every going to accomplish what i want to?

I guess to answer his questions, a dream deferred depends on the person, their drive, and the situation of the dream. I believe that if we let the dream go and never accomplish it then it will feel as he has described; however, there are cases where the dream is only limited for that period in your life.  Basketball would be one of my dreams deferred that I will never be able to do anything about. I was in high school when I quit. If I did not, how would my life had been different? It is a dream that I will never have the potential of experiencing because it will forever be gone. I wonder how many kids realize the impact that the choice (big or small) you make today effect your life in the long run.

However, there are dreams that are still within my grasp. getting my masters, traveling, exploring the world, all those little first year married things. I feel as though I am in that time of my life that if I do not take grasp and control of them now, then I will look back with regret and wish I had taken the opportunity.