Dream within a dream

"Oλόκληρη η ζωή μου

δεν ήταν παρά η ανάμνηση ενός ονείρου

μέσα σε ένα άλλο όνειρο"

Τάσος Λειβαδίτης

aurasea

Η θαλασσινη αύρα

καθαρίζει το μυαλό και

σε βοηθά να δεις

τα πράγματα καλύτερα

,

do you mind?

θέσει βραχεία φύσει μακρά

ουρανός

σύννεφα

βουνά

θάλασσα

λιμάνι

δέντρα

σώψυχήμα

επιφάνεια ψυχή,

σ' ανέμου άγγιγμα,

ρεύματα αγάπης,

σε ωχρές ψυχές,

σώματα δώματα,

πλημμυρισμένα.

photo by flickr

As time goes by

POEM WITH TWO ENDINGS

POEM WITH TWO ENDINGS

Say “death” and the whole room freezes—

even the couches stop moving,

even the lamps.

Like a squirrel suddenly aware it is being looked at.

Say the word continuously,

and things begin to go forward.

Your life takes on

the jerky texture of an old film strip.

Continue saying it,

hold it moment after moment inside the mouth,

it becomes another syllable.

A shopping mall swirls around the corpse of a beetle.

Death is voracious, it swallows all the living

Life is voracious, it swallows all the dead.

Neither is ever satisfied, neither is ever filled,

each swallows and swallows the world.

The grip of life is as strong as the grip of death.

(but the vanished, the vanished beloved, o where?)

By Jane Hirshfield

photo by flickr