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Life Is a Dream - Pedro Calderón de la Barca
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We live, while we see the sun,
Where life and dreams are as one;
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And living has taught me this;
man dreams the life that is his,
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until his living is done.
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The king, dreams he is king, and he lives
in the deceit of a king.
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Commanding and governing;
and all the praise he receives,
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is written in wind, and leaves
a little dust on the way;
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When death ends all with a breath.
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Where then is the gain of a throne,
that shall perish, and not be known.
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In the other dream that is death?
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Dreams the rich man of riches, and fears,
The fears that his riches breed.
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The poor man dreams of his need,
and all his sorrows and tears.
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Dreams he that prospers with years;
Dreams he that feigns and foregoes.
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Dreams he that rails on his foes;
and in all the world, I see,
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man dreams whatever he be.
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And his own dream no man knows,
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and I too dream and behold.
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I dream I am bound with chains,
and I dreamed that these present pains
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were fortunate ways of old.
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What is life?
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A tale that is told;
What is life?
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A frenzy extreme.
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A shadow of things that seem;
and the greatest good is but small,
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that all life is a dream to all,
and that dreams themselves
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are a dream.
