Povratak u Panoniju - The Return to Pannonia, a poem by Zlatko Tomicic - JCS 21

ZLATKO TOMIČIĆ, A SELECTION OF POEMS

TRANSLATED BY S. B., ANTUN NIZETEO, HILDA PRPIĆ and G. MARVIN TATUM

POVRATAK U PANONIJU	THE RETURN TO PANNONIA[1]
Kad se vratim u šume na obali niskih rijeka, u raž i u rumen, u potoke, u svirale, u šaš i u oči srne, prolazeći bosanske planine, u hiperborejsku Panoniju, kad se vratim u blato i u maglu, u mrs i u močvare, u ravan, u žito i slamu; kad ostavim: andjele s glazbalima i s cvijećem na srcu, gola bića koja su živjela u kamenu, kad napustim: grb dvije ruže, srušeni mlin za masline, grivu konja plamenog koji me vzdio u noćima odricanja, pelin koji se povija na vjetru iznad krvave Krbave, klas i kosu izvan zemlje bez rodjenog daba;	When I return to the woods by the low rivers, in the rye and the crimson, in the streams, in the reeds, in the bulrushes and in the eyes of the deer, passing through the Bosnian mountains, toward hyperborean Pannonia, when I return in mud and in fog, in the reeds and in the swamps, in the plains, in the corn and the straw; when I leave behind the angels with their instruments and with flowers in their hearts, the naked beings which lived in the rock, when I leave behind: the coat of arms of the two roses, the ruined olive mill, the horse with the fiery mane that saw me in the nights of self-denial, the wormwood bending from the wind above the bloody Krbava, the spike and the scythe outside the breathless earth;
kad podjem na put u sjećanju na oštric u gorčini gladne mladosti, na uzvišen šum vjetra u borovima, na planet Merkur što se sja pokraj sunca, na tugu tajnovitu davnog ratnika. Kad odem s mjesta na obali Hrvatskog mora gdje stajale tijelo istrulo svetog Donata na trgu rimskom s nadgrobnim biljezima bojovnika i ljubavnika, nepokornog grada kralja Stjepana u kojem biljeg stoji smrti Kotromanićeve — pokraj sina Tvrtka i Vuka; kad ostavim Časku i Nin: svijet će sjati u očima živih kao u ratnika trojanskih.	when I set out recalling in my memory the sharp rock in a hungry youth's bitterness, the sublime rustle of the wind in the pines, the planet Mercury shining near to the sun, the mysterious sadness of the ancient warrior. When I leave the town on the shore of the Croatian sea where the decomposed body of Saint Donatus stood on the Roman square with the sepulchral epitaphs of combatants and lovers, of the disobedient city of King Stephan where still there stands the sign of the death of Kotromanić— close by his son Tvrtko and Vuk; when I leave Časku and Nin[2]: The world will shine in the eyes of the living like in those of the Trojan warriors. NIZETEO & TATUM