Thursday 29 September 2016

Nikola Milicevic - Poetry in Croatian and English - JCS 21


NIKOLA MILIČEVIĆ Born 1922
Born in Zvečanje, near Omiš (Dalmatian Croatia); lives in Zagreb. His books of poetry are:
ZLATNA GRANA [The Golden Branch] 1952, POD RAVNODUŠNIM ZVIJEZDAMA [Under the Indifferent Stars] 1953, OBECANJA ŽUTE ZORE [The Promises of the Yellow Dawn] 1956, SNIJEG I CRNA PTICA [The Snow and the Black Bird] 1964, PRAH ZEMALJSKI [The Terrestrial Dust] 1974, RUKE PUNE MOŠTA [Hands Full of Must] 1978.

TRENUCI SITNA KIŠA

MOMENTS OF SMALL RAIN

Rijeka je danas sasvim stišala svoje vode.
Bistra je do dna: vidim joj tamno srce
i ćujem ga: kuca. Kuca rijeka i prolazi
podmuklim hodom. I kaže mi zbogom, a još je
tu, preda mnom, prozirna i mirna. Zbogom,
govorio sam mnogo puta, a još sam tu, spokojan, kao da nikada neću otići.
Sitni šljunak treperi. Sitni trenuci vremena
kapaju kao kapi i odlaze, a ostaju, ukleti.

Today the river calmed its waters.
It is limpid down to the bottom: I see its dark heart
and bear it: it pulsates. The river pulses and goes by
at a treacherous rate. And it says goodbye to me and still it is here, in front of me, transparent and quiet. Goodbye,
I have said many times, and still I am here,
calm, as if I would never go away.
The tiny pebbles glisten. Tiny moments of time
keep falling like droplets and go away and yet remain accursed.

I vrbe šušte. I ja medju njima stojim
zelen i šumoran. I treperim i tečem,
kao sve oko mene. A sve je tu, i šljunak,
i vrbe, i rijeka. I trenuci vremena kapaju
po svemu ko sitna suha kila. I ostaju.

And the willows are rustling. And I stand among them
green and rustling. And I glitter and flow
like everything around me. And everything is here, and the pebbles,
and the willows and the river. And the moments of time keep dropping
over everything like a tiny dry rain. And here they remain.

A netko će ipak otići. Možda rijeka, koja
najočitije teče? Možda šljunak s vodom?
Možda lišće s vjetrom? Možda ja? S kime?
S vodom? S vjetrom? S trenucima? Možda
zaista i samo ja, koji sam mnogo puta
govorio zbogom, a još sam tu, spokojan,
kao da nikada neću otići.

And yet someone must leave. Perhaps the river which
quite obviously flows? Perhaps the pebbles with the water?
Perhaps the leaves with the wind? Perhaps me? With whom?
With the water? With the wind? With the moments? Perhaps in fact only me who many times
has said goodbye, and still I am here, calm,
as if I would never go away.



KAO KAMEN I ZEMLJA

LIKE A STONE AND THE EARTH

Morao sam nekud otići, i otišao sam iz grada
prema poljima.
Vozio sam se tramvajem, vozio autobusom
do posljednje stanice.
Onda sam dugo hodao, do pruge, i dugo sam čekao na rampi
s konjima i vozilima.

I had to go somewhere and I went out of town
toward the field.
I rode by streetcar, I rode by bus
out to the last stop.
Then I walked for a long time, up to the railroad track, and I
waited for a long time
at the barrier
with the horses and the vehicles.

-- O kad bi to bila jedina rampa
na kojoj sam morao čekati!
Kolike rampe, koliki zidovi, kolika tvrda vrata!
Ali tekao sam strpljivo. Onda se motke digoše i zakoračih u pol ja.
Bilo je skoro proljeće. Sjalo je blago sunce
i trava se ukazala u svijetlom zelenilu.

— O were this the only barrier
at which I have had to wait!
— How many barriers, how many walls, how many heavy doors!
But I waited patiently.
Then the poles lifted and I stepped out into the fields.
It was almost Spring, a mild sun shone
and the first pale green of the grass was appearing.

Opet sam dugo hodao, sve dublje u ravnicu,
u mir umorne zemlje.

Kad bijah sasvim daleko, najednom stupih u razgovor,
ne znam, sam sa sobom ili s nekim nevidljivim.
Isprva polako pa sve žučnije i na kraju

počeh psovati.
Vikao sam i psovao, cijelo je polje ječalo. Onda naglo zastadoh, a neki podmukli glas
kao da reče: - Kakva je to psovka
koju nitko ne čuje?

Again, I walked for a long time, deeper and deeper into the meadow, 
in the peace that lay upon the earth.
When I was quite faraway, suddenly, I began to speak,
I do not know whether with myself or with someone invisible.
At first slowly, and then more and more bitterly, and in the end
I started to curse:
I shouted and cursed so that the whole field echoed.
Then suddenly I stopped, and it seemed that some sly voice
said: What kind of curse is that
which nobody can hear?

Od tih mračnih riječi sve se zamrzlo u meni. Zašutjeh kao zemlja.
Sunce je padalo k zapadu i trebalo se vratiti.


From those dark words everything froze in me.
I fell silent like the earth.
The sun was setting, and I was supposed to return.

I šao sam natrag istim puteljcima
I opet sam dugo čekao no onoj prokletoj rampi, smrknut i hladan, kao kamen.

I went back by the same narrow paths
and again I had to wait for a long time at that accursed barrier,
dismal and cold, like a stone.



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