Inherited from yesterday
Borrowed from tomorrow
This body and its strength
This bag of bone and sorrow

Look down cries Valjean
We stand each in our grave
With cuffs of gold they bind us
So we remain their knave

Each day goes on like the one before
Does there remain a distant shore?
Where tomorrows dreams don't die
At the hands of needs today?

If we ask those long dead fathers would we yet hear what they say?

"I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain."
John Adams letter to Abigail Adams May 12, 1780