on poetic exchanges

eons ago, while i was training for my marathon to raise funds for asha, i had composed the following to ask potential donors to contribute to the cause:

With much regard may I remind
Ye gentle souls of giving kind -
Of races waiting to be run,
Of sweaty workouts in the sun,
Of miles run, many more to go,
On trails and tracks, hills high and low.

Of taking steps to educate,
To grant a child a better fate,
A better life, a better morrow -
Not one he must beg, steal, or borrow.
Is there a sight that touches more
Than a smile one has not seen before?

For knowledge does contentment bring,
And lets a caged soul take wing.
So give to this worthy cause, I ask,
Help Asha do its noble task.
And make this world a wee bit brighter,
As hearts become a little lighter.

r, a kind and caring friend, forwarded this request to his friends, in turn (not on my asking, may i add). q wrote a response:

_, it has been some time
Since I have seen a plea in rhyme.
Verse that, quite eloquently,
attests to your sincerity.
Which makes it very hard to choose
To stick with conscience -- and refuse.

It's easy to donate in cash --
'Twas mine, 'tis his, then theirs, then trash;
But money, when the deed is done,
Ennobles not the giving one.
I'm not a man, if truth be told,
Whose charity is weighed in gold.

We pull down virtue from its shelves
Only when we give -- ourselves.
And cash, I find, has far less traction
Than fiery dreams and heart-felt action.
I'll run the race, I'll teach the kids...
But cash, alas, my faith forbids.

cash or no cash, i was pleased beyond measure to receive this response (if only all the other donors had known it :). i followed in kind:

This cash that you talk of -
It grows not on trees.
So save as you must,
And spend as you please...

'Cos a cause that is noble
Will find its own way,
To success and completion
Come. What may.

For it's not in your hands,
Nor in his, hers or mine,
To come in the way
Of a sun that must shine.

And as long as there's faith,
And belief in the heart,
The finish is inevitable -
All one needs is a start.

not surprisingly, he wrote back:

An idea whose time has come
Is powerful, all right,
But where's the point in starting well
When there's no end in sight?

Yes, noble causes will attract
Most noble folks' attentions ---
But "noble causes" are as cheap
As talk -- and good intentions.

Dreamers will not heal the world,
And you and I both know it:
More likely, that's a job for an
Engineer (or a poet)..

And in the final reckoning,
Perhaps you'll find it true
The Whole World can't achieve what One
Ambitious Man can do.

i believe the thread ended there, perhaps suitably so :). i thought it was worth a post.