Far Beyond My Dreams..

.... the City Was

Since I was very young, I fell in love with this city,​
because the stories of my grandfather, the witty.
But a transatlantic voyage seemed like a dream​
coming and leaving as a violent stream ..

When "New York- New York" was song by Frank Sinatra, ​
young people everywhere, from Athens to Sumatra,
and from Tokyo to Cape Town,
either wearing pants or gown,
they were dreaming, the most famous of all cities,
and were wishing someday to see it's infinite pretties.​

Our tanker was constantly loaded with oil for transport....​
Although New York is the largest oil-importing port,
our ship had never been there,
​and for me it was too unfair....​

Ιn 1524 Giovanni da Verrazzano* feared Indian arrows,
and this Florentine explorer anchored in the Narrows.*
​
In 1984 Odisseas Heavilayias, I, anchored 
                   in the very same place...​

I finished my work at a fast pace
and pretending I did not hear the boss's cuss,
in a few minutes I was on the bus...

The City was far beyond my dreams,
a dazzling bright set, a city that gleams....
​
Wandering the crowded streets, I found myself on Broadway.....​
Of the hundreds of illuminated advertising in my way,
I picked out one ,“The Phantom of the Opera”, although,
the English language I did not know,
but I wanted so bad to watch the show.....

....αnd guess what.      Finally I did it,

and I was right. This musical was actually an 
                                     elevation of spirit.

The show exceeded all my expectations.
The audience rewarded this masterpiece with 
                                            endless ovations.

For those who does not know, it broke all the 
                                                         Broadway records...
In Britain commented... even in the House of Lords.
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*  Giovanni da Verrazzano,  A Florentine explorer of North America, in the service of the King Francis I of France.

*The Narrows,  is the tidal strait separating the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City. It connects the Upper New York Bay and Lower New York Bay and forms the principal channel by which the Hudson River empties into the Atlantic Ocean. It has long been considered to be the maritime "gateway" to New York City and historically has been one of the most important entrances into the harbors of the Port of New York and New Jersey.
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*Extract from "The Broken Mooring Line", an autobiographical poetic work 
by Odysseas Heavilayias. / P. 22 /  e-mail: od.heavilayias@yahoo.com / 
text editting: Cathy Rapakoulia Mataraga / text adaptation: Kellene G. Safis

source

 Utopia