Compare and Contrast

Dreams

by Langston Hughes

Hold fast to dreams

for if dreams die
life is a broken-winged bird

that cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams

for when dreams go

life is a barren field

frozen with snow.

Trees

Pablo Neruda (tranlated into Englishy by Ben Belitt)

When I switched off the lights last night
all my roots went to sleep
while my eyes remained
caught in the leafage:
later, with dark flooding in,
a branch fell over my dreams:
the cold night rose
from the trunk, crystal-clear,
a transparent iguana.

I slept soundly then.

I closed my eyes and my leaves.