Fundraiser's Lament

Alas! All my efforts to raise
The funds that I need are a haze
Of emails and letters
And phone calls to debtors
Who made gifts in earlier days.

And what is a poor boy to do
When the fundraising campaign is through
And my board committee
Has drowned in self-pity
And even my founder's a shrew?

Alas for this fate that is mine:
To try to raise funds in such times!

But what else could I do
That, when my life is through,
Would ensure that my light will still shine?

And so, though the hour is late
And my prospects for funds are not great,
I still will plod on
Through the darkness to dawn,
For the world that should be will not wait.

____________
Jeremy Gregg

Sent from my phone; please excuse brevity and typos.