15 Last Night I Had a Dream
Antonio Machado

     Last night I had a dream--
a blessed illusion it was--
I dreamt of a fountain flowing
deep down in my heart.
Water, by what hidden channels
have you come, tell me, to me,
welling up with new life
I never tasted before?
     Last night I had a dream--
a blessed illusion it was--
I dreamt of a hive at work
deep down in my heart.
Within were the golden bees
straining out the bitter past
to make sweet-tasting honey,
and white honeycomb.
     Last night I had a dream--
a blessed illusion it was--
I dreamt of a hot sun shining
deep down in my heart.
The heat was in the scorching
as from a fiery hearth;
the sun in the light it shed
and the tears it brought to the eyes.
     Last night I had a dream--
a blessed illusion it was--
I dreamed it was God I’d found
deep down in my heart.



16 Has my heart gone to sleep?

     Has my heart gone to sleep?
Have the beehives of my dreams
stopped working, the waterwheel
of the mind run dry,
scoops turning empty,
only shadow inside?
     No, my heart is not asleep.
It is awake, wide awake.
Not asleep, not dreaming--
its eyes are opened wide
watching distant signals, listening
on the rim of the vast silence.  

both from Selected Poems translated by Alan Trueblood