William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) a famous 20th century Irish poet who was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1923, wrote these words:
HAD I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet,
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams
I don’t know what the literary interpretation of this poem is, but as I read these lines a picture came to my mind all of a sudden, the scene described in all four gospels, referred to as ‘The Triumphal Entry’ and celebrated commonly as Palm Sunday.
Luke describes the scene in chapter 19 (NKJV):
28 When He had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here. 31 And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it?’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’”
32 So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them. 33 But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, “Why are you loosing the colt?”
34 And they said, “The Lord has need of him.” 35 Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him. 36 And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road.
37 Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, 38 saying:
“‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!’
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Think for a moment. These people were willing to put their clothes on the dusty road to Jerusalem only to be trampled upon by a donkey Jesus was ridding. Clothes are something we hold dear; at least most people do. They cover our nakedness, make us look respectable and protect our body against the weather. And since this was a special occasion, these people might have been wearing their best clothes. And yet they laid them down, at the feet of a donkey.But then again this was no ordinary person riding a donkey, it was the King of Kings. And while many scholars of the law and religious people of the time did not recognize him, these simple folks did. And they sure knew how to honour royalty. So they spread their clothes at the feet of the donkey in order to honour His Majesty, the Son of David.
Now back to the Yeats. Like all good poetry, he makes a simple but implicit statement. He thinks that there is something more precious he can lay at the King’s feet than merely beautiful clothes. Infact, it is the one thing we hold most dear, our dreams(He calls it the only thing he has). And then he beautifully writes
“I have spread my dreams under your feet,Tread softly because you tread on my dreams”
The message here: humility, Total Surrender. Picture Jesus riding a donkey, picture your dreams: a prosperous career, comfortable job, money, wealth, comfort, nice car, big house, lots of fun etc. and Now picture those dreams being trampled upon, those dreams being crushed. If a man crushed our dreams, we would be out to kill him for causing such terrible pain. But can we ever willingly let someone crush our dreams? YES, we can, and that is what God demands: total surrender. It is a slow and painful process, but a requirement for all those who want to remain in the eternal Kingdom of Christ the King. CS Lewis wrote that except Christianity, no other religion in the world regards humility as a virtue. We repect the powerful, the strong and the mighty. But it is when we have reached the ultimate standard of humility, when its no longer about ‘me’, when my dreams are not my dreams, when my life is not my own, and neither my will ‘I will’, and when we’ve left all our hopes and dreams at the feet of Jesus, it is only then that we wake up to reality, from dreamland, only to realize that the dreams that Jesus trampled are no longer dreams. They have become reality!
Jesus said that he who loses his life finds it. I believe that applies to dreams as well. When we submit our dreams, our plan and ambitions to Jesus, they are not cast aside, they are made more beautiful then we ever imagined. Many people believe dreams to be the work of our imagination. Well, if that’s the case, then its even better if we let God take care of our dreams. He’s got the biggest imagination, He created an 100 million forms of life on earth alone!
