I went to a place where dreams are born

And I felt that I was just a dream.

But out of dreams often pains are born

And therefore soon I began to scream.

As the pain was not fading away,

I dragged my aching body to bed,

I knew in my dream I lost my way,

So I woke to find out I was dead.

When you're dead it's the end of a dream,

You cast away the body you worn.

I entered a hole; began to scream…

And I was back where the dreams are born.

© P J Oszmann (2008)

© Illustration created in Photoshop (2008)

Footnote:

The above poem was actually borne out of a dream. I dreamt the poem in full, woke up, jotted it down, checked the meter, made minor corrections in only two lines and the poem was completed in less then ten minutes. I've never completed a poem this easily and fast in English. It was too easy I thought, so I decided I had to translate it into Hungarian, which I've never tried before. Hitherto all my literary translating efforts were from Hungarian to English.

The rude awakening… from an easy birth to a breach-birth… without an epidural…

Just like in the dream, I screamed… and now I am back where the dreams are born…

Below is the Hungarian version for whoever can read it…

(I could not fit it in the original meter, three syllabi had to be added to every line… who said Hungarian was an easy language?…)

Ahol az álmok születnek

Oda mentem ahol az álmok születnek,

S úgy ėreztem, hogy egy álom vagyok csupán,

De álmokbol gyakran fájdalmak születnek

Ės igy sikitani kezdtem, pár perc után.

Mivel nem tudott mullani a fájdalmam

Gyötört testem nehezen ágyba cipeltem

Tudtam hogy álmomban elvesztettem utam

S igy arra ėbredtem fel hogy halott lettem.

Aki halott, az az álom vėgėhez ėrt.

A test ės ėlet örömei megszünnek.

Egy mėly lyukba estem, sikitottam ezėrt,

S ott lettem megint, hol az álmok születnek

© P J Oszmann (2008) (Translated from the English original)