What it is to Have Dreams

This is what it looks like to have dreams

I look around me at my sparse room
Still filled with my cases full of belongings
A borrowed mattress on a concrete floor
A towel over the window to keep out mosquitoes
And I realize:
This is what it looks like to have dreams

Back to wearing white
Though I thought I'd left that behind as a student
More tests and reviews
Having to prove myself yet again
I work hard knowing:
This is what it takes to have dreams

Its the stench wafting in my window from the goats
Permeating my clothesline
Its the damp stink of rain and sweat soaked skin
Its the inhalation of dust kicked up by my walking feet
I breathe deep cause:
This is what it smells like to have dreams

When coffee meets garlic in warm wet kisses
A lone chapatti becomes my staple food
I'd kill for the cash to afford froyo
And an ice cold  Mirinda can steal my heart every time
I gulp it down,
This is what it tastes like to have dreams

An empty bed and silent tears
When he doesn't call and doesn't say hi
With only my own knees to hold
As all my hopes are disappointed once again
I steel my heart aware:
This is what it feels like to have dreams

Then there's that moment under that mango tree
With the rush of the breeze over my body
Its all perfectly right for that moment
And I know there is no place on the world I'd rather be
I smile to myself
Because this kid still has dreams