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.