I Have So Many Dreams of You
I have so many dreams of you,
that you are losing your reality
Is it too late to reach for your living, breathing body,
and lower my mouth over the birthplace
of a voice so dear to me?
I have so many dreams of you,
that my arms--accustomed to embracing only shadows--
will cross themselves over my chest
and will not unfold again if not perhaps around
the contours of your very body.
Until your actual appearance in my life
--the ideal of the person who haunts and leads
me through the days and the years--
may turn me into a shadow,
without direction or sentimental balance.
I have so many dreams of you,
that I may never wake up again.
I sleep at will, exposing my life to love and to you,
the only one that matters to me now.
I can no more touch your face and lips,
than those of a random passerby
I have so many dreams of you,
Have walked upon, talked about and slept with
your haunting image so much,
that there is no remedy but to be a ghost among ghosts.
A shadow one hundred times more shady,
than the phantom presence that walks and
will continue to walk happily over the sundial of your life.
--Robert Desnos