Όνειρο παιδιών της γειτονιάς
Greek
Κάθε κήπος έχει
μια φωλιά για τα πουλιά.
Κάθε δρόμος έχει
μια καρδιά για τα παιδιά
Μα κυρά μου εσύ,
σαν τι να λες με την αυγή
και κοιτάς τ’ αστέρια
που όλο πέφτουν σαν βροχή
Δώσ’ μου τα μαλλιά σου
να τα κάνω προσευχή,
για να ξαναρχίσω
το τραγούδι απ’ την αρχή
Κάθε σπίτι κρύβει
λίγη αγάπη στη σιωπή
μα ένα αγόρι έχει
την αγάπη για ντροπή
English
Every garden has
a nest for the birds
Every street has
a heart for the children
But you, my lady,
what might you be saying at dawn?
…and you’re looking at the stars
that keep cascading like rain
Offer me your hair
to make a prayer out of it
so that I recommence
[my] song, from the beginning
Every house harbours
a little love in the silence
yet a boy takes
love as a disgrace
σαν τι να λες
A rather idiomatic structure, σαν τι να... could be translated as ‘like what could… [insert verb]’. For example, Σαν τι να θέλει; means something along the lines of ‘Like what could he want?’
με την αυγή
The preposition με here describes the setting in which the action takes place. It is most commonly used this way in the phrases το πρωί με την αυγή ‘in the morning during dawn’ and ένα βράδυ με φεγγάρι ‘some night when the moon was up’. However, this use is rare and slightly poetic.
όλο πέφτουν
The neuter gender of the adjective όλος -η -ο ‘whole, entire’, can also be used as an adverb, to mean that an action keeps occurring, often following a specific pattern. It frequently has negative connotations.
e.g.
Όλο ψέματα λέει. – She keeps lying all the time.
Δεν κάνει τίποτα άλλο, όλο παίζει. – He keeps playing all the time; does nothing else.
Όλο εμένα πειράζουν, κανέναν άλλον. – They keep picking on me; nobody else.
να τα κάνω προσευχή
The verb κάνω, apart from meaning ‘to do’ or ‘to make’, it can also be used meaning ‘to turn something into something else’.
e.g.
Η μάγισσα τον έκανε βάτραχο. – The witch turned him into a frog.
έχει την αγάπη για ντροπή
A rare usage of έχω ‘to have’, followed by για ‘for’, is the meaning ‘to take something as something else’, as in ‘to consider something to be something else’.
e.g.
Μας έχει για βλάκες. – He thinks we’re stupid.
Αυτοί έχουν τη χλεύη για κατόρθωμα. – They think that mocking others is an achievement.