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Note contribution of poem by Robert Gordon Menzies [p. 152]: “”Confessio Somniantis” I dreamed! And I stood in a dark land, a barren wilderness. Above me were rocky caverns, above me towered the bleak mountains A land of death! Awful were the winds that wailed and shrieked, now sobbing as with a sad remembrance, now lifting a despairing voice in angered bitterness. A land of death; but I was not alone. Past me, with silent tread, there went a procession, white-clad, ghastly in the uncertain light. With eyes downcast they marched, and in their sunken cheeks, their dull stare, I saw no sign of hope. I turned – a figure stood beside me, pale, unearthly, hopeless. He read the question in my eyes – What men are these? What land is this? And like a dying echo his answer fell upon my startled ears: “This is the land of the Past; and these shuffling forms – these are the Ghosts of Ambitions Unrealised!” . . . I woke to find about me a workday world; the roar of life was in my ears; the call of action, loud, incessant, appealing. And putting my dream aside, I went forth. All day long I watched the evermoving tide of humanity, and listened for its still, sad music; and I thought that here at least all was activity, and the dreamer had no place! But looking again, I beheld a new wonder; for in the eyes of all I read Purpose; and understanding came to me, and I saw that these men had their dreams; that I also had my dreams; and for these we lived and died; that I also had my dreams; and for these we lived and died; their hold was strong upon us, and we strove and jostled on, treading the lonely sports of earth, confused in the mists and vapours that clogged our vision, but with the dream ever before us, beckoning us on, calling us with a call that would not be refused!
Again I dreamed! I stood I knew not where; for the land was dim to my sight and whether the silence which enfolded me was that of the desert, or whether the land was rich, I could not tell. Far off in the East the streaks of dawn proclaimed the coming day, and turning to behold it I saw the figure of him who stood beside me. Gone was his look of despair; in the depths of his eyes there slumbered a great expectancy. “Tell me,” I cried, “what is this land? What lies beyond these shades? What shall the day reveal?” And the man spoke. “The day shall brighten in the East; little by little shall this land unfold it secrets to your eyes, and, seeing, you shall understand, and shall be moved, and shall sleep again; for this is the land of the Future, the dwelling-place of Ambitions to Come! R.G.M.”