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April 12, 2006
The Dreams of Immigrants and Us All
I teach creative writing to immigrant students who attend the College of Mount St. Vincent Institute for Immigration Concerns in New York City. I asked them to add their voices to the wonderful poem, In Praise of Dreams, written by Nobel Poetry Prize winner Wislawa Szymborska. I share with you their beautiful dreams.
In my dreams
I am a bird
I fly in a permanent blue sky
I sing a song of Freedom
I have no constraint, no fence
I can go everywhere
My limits are the limits of the World
-- by Robert Sebisaho, Democratic Republic of Congo (Central Africa)
***
In my dreams
I visited many countries.
In my dreams I see
Everybody being friends,
In my dreams I see
One sky for all.
In my dreams I see
A lot of food
And everybody eats.
-- by Victor Garcia, Mexico
***
I relive in the past time
When I want to be a child
I discuss with God
To reconsider about wars.
-- by Si Thu, Burma
***
In my dreams
I travel far and wide
By foot, by wings
I climbed the highest of the mountains
Crossed the deepest of the rivers
Past the greenest of the trees
Till I find the truest peace.
-- by Ngwe Thawdar, Burma
***
In my dreams
I am a new baby
I can learn everything from the beginning
I swim like a goldfish
Shaking my tail leisurely
I am so amazing
I can pass tests so easily
The greatest doctor is me
Patients come to me weak, go away healthy
I have so much money
I never worry about what I can donate
My smile looks like Spring
My songs make people happy
I am the mysterious magician
The world becomes so peaceful under my charm
Nobody is hungry.
Nobody is poor.
I see the kingdom once in my thoughts
I see the desert change into an oasis
I’m in the heavens
Beautiful flowers give me a shower
I am the beautiful fairy in a story
Animals play around me.
-- by Aihong Liu, China
****
In my dreams,
I walk and walk and I never get tired.
I can walk in the dark and not trip.
I can reach a star just stretching my arm.
I can see beyond the sky.
My heart is never tired.
I can clean my arteries by simply closing my eyes.
My womb is so big that I can protect all the poor children of the world.
People who I love do not die.
The neurons of my brain don’t die, they multiply.
I’m a great speaker to multitudes of people.
My skin is intact, my arteries are clean, my bones are strong and my steps firm and secure.
I race a bicycle in the Tour de France.
I can stop time.
Everything that dies is reborn again.
-- by Ana L. Rojas, Chile
***
In my dreams
I would like to speak a lot of English fluently.
I dream I am a talented woman.
In my dreams I speak English fluently, Greek fluently, French fluently.
In my dreams I return to when I was 20 years old.
In my dreams I succeed in discovering the secret of living forever
-- no one dies, there is no hurt, no grief.
In my dreams I want to be a Cinderella.
In my dreams I would like to be slim.
I would like to find the diet to eat more and stay slender.
In my dreams I learn how to speak and write English correctly.
Then I want to wake up.
In my dreams I would like to take away death .
In my dreams I would like to open the frontier borders to people who are responsible, reliable, trustworthy – but not to Saddam Hussein.
I would like to be safe in the United States.
-- by Maria Lopez, Colombia
***
When I was a little girl
Between eight and 10 years old
Each night, in my dream,
I saw the Angel.
She spoke to me. But,
I didn’t remember
What she said (when I woke up).
One day, I saw
Someone who I knew
She said, ‘’Miralia!
Come fly with me.’’
I accepted to do this
And I flew with her
We got up so far
We were flying like birds.
I was very happy
To play in space
Suddenly, I fell
From the air
Finally, I woke up
And I was very tired.
-- by Miralia Louis, Haiti
#
Now, here is the actual poem that was written by Wislawa Szymborska -- I hope you find it as beautiful and wonderful as I do:
In Praise of Dreams
In my dreams
I paint like Vermeer van Delft.
I speak fluent Greek
and not only with the living.
I drive a car
which obeys me.
I am talented,
I write long, great poems.
I hear voices
no less than the major saints.
You would be amazed
at my virtuosity on the piano.
I float through the air as is proper,
that is, all by myself.
Falling from the roof
I can softly land on green grass.
I don't find it hard
to breathe under water.
I can't complain:
I've succeeded in discovering Atlantis.
I'm delighted that just before dying
I always manage to wake.
Right after the outbreak of war
I turn over on my favorite side.
I am but I need not
be a child of my time.
A few years ago
I saw two suns.
And the day before yesterday a penguin.
With the utmost clarity.
- Wislawa Szymborska
YOUR TURN NOW: What stanzas or additions would you add to this wonderful poem? Please share them with us.
Posted by billz at 02:49 PM | Comments (0)
