When A Dream Remains A Dream Poem by Vassilis Comporozos

When a dream remains a dream
it's like I dived into
the depths of the sea
onto the corals down there
to engrave my name
but the bottom was too deep
and my breath too short
and I got bogged up
onto the surface!

When a dream remains a dream
it's like it drizzled
a scent of rain
but the cloud was soon
scattered away
- what a time for the weather
to get fine again! -
and I only drank
a spell of drought!

When a dream remains a dream
it's like a shore o stars
I endeavoured to colour
in the hues of joy
but the night was
an eagle dashing upon me

and I was left with
the shards of
a fractured look.

I remember, though, a dream
I climbed upon only
To find trodden mud
and a hope withering
flake by flake.

Oh, when a dream
remains a dream
it's like a poem of mine
I had kept
in the drawers of time,
but it was caught
into the venomous hooks
of fake needs
and got lost
or so I think.
Vassilis Comporozos

(translated by the original ‘Όταν ένα όνειρο παραμένει όνειρο' by the poet himself, from the poet's book 'Ο Κιθαρωδός και τα σκουπίδια'-The Minstrel and the rubbish.)