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Tin Ujević: Poezija

Blessed morning

Blessed morning, you cascade
Roaring lightfalls in this room.
How can pain make me afraid,
Dead already, in my tomb?

Well, perhaps you can ignite
Buried sparks from ash and dust
Since the lilac and the light
Still swell longing in your breast.

When I lift your veil, you show
Lines of quiet, forms of grace
In shelves of books, row on row –
Then the whole room’s careworn face.

Yet, there’s something still I miss
From this crib without a cross,
A smile on darling lips, the kiss
Of flowers in a waterglass.

Blessed morning, while you dress
This room in your translucent robe,
I have no fear of death’s caress.
Only give love back to this Job.

Translated by Richard Burns and Daša Marić

Daily Lament

How hard it is not to be strong,
How hard it is to be alone,
And to be old, yet to be young!

And to be weak, and powerless,
Alone, with no one anywhere,
Dissatisfied, and desperate.

And trudge bleak highways endlessly,
And to be trampled in the mud,
With no star shining in the sky.

Without your star of destiny
To play its twinklings on your crib
With rainbows and false prophecies.

– Oh God, oh God, remember all
The glittering fair promises
With which you have afflicted me.

Oh God, oh God, remember all
The great loves, the great victories,
The wreaths of laurel and the gifts.

And know you have a son who walks
The weary valleys of the world
Among sharp thorns, and rocks and stones,

Through unkindness and unconcern,
With his feet bloodied under him,
And with his heart an open wound.

His bones are full of weariness,
His soul is ill at ease and sad,
And he's neglected and alone,

And sisterless, and brotherless,
and fatherless, and motherless,
With no one dear, and no close friend,

And he has no-one anywhere
Except thorn twigs to pierce his heart
And fire blazing from his palms.

Lonely and utterly alone
Under the hemmed in vault of blue,
On dark horizons of high seas.

Whom can he tell his troubles to
When no-one’s there to hear hues call,
not even brother wanderers.

Oh God, you sear your burning word
Too hugely through this narrow throat
And throttle it inside my cry.

And utterance is a burning stake,
Though I must yell it out, I must,
Or, like a kindled log, burn out.

Just let me be a bonfire on
A hill, just one breath in the fire,
If not a scream hurled from the roofs.

Oh God, let it be over with,
This miserable wandering
Under a vault as deaf as stone.

Because I crave a powerful word,
Because I crave an answering voice,
Someone to love, or holy death.

For bitter is the wormwood wreath
And deadly dark the poison cup,
So burn me, blazing summer noon.

For I am sick of being weak,
And sick of being all alone
(seeing I could be hale and strong)

And seeing that I could be loved),
But I am sick, sickest of all
To be so old, yet still be young!

Translated by Richard Burns and Daša Marić

Vasionac

Sto glasova iz stotine grla,
iz dubine stostruke mi svijesti,
grmi, kliče: još me nije strla
teška žalost zatajanih vijesti.

Sto pjesama iz sto mojih vrela,
iz dubine stostruke mi vode,
šiknu, viknu: Nije me raspela
zarobljena boginja slobode.

Kliče, vapi duša mnogim umom,
buni se u grudi srce šire.
Dokle hodam pogaženim humom,
uskrsnut ću Asir i Misire.

Struje misli kao vir zelenca.
Pomiče se moja mrtva snaga.
Sebe motrim usred svoga zdenca,
uspravljam se usred sarkofaga.

Uske su mi ove male zemlje.
Kratke su mi moje bijele ruke.
Gorke su mi ove suhe žemlje.
Ja bih mog'o, Svijetlo, u hajduke.

Kroz ocean neba ja sam ronac
i u mrežu lovim mliječne staze,
Mjesečić i Sunčić, Vasionac.
Mene pravo samo zvijezde paze.

Borci viču: konja! A mornari: jedra!
A ja, opet glasom pomorkinja vila,
žudim samo plavet, Vasiona Njedra,
i ja vičem: krila! - krila, krila!

Pobratimstvo lica u svemiru

Ne boj se! Nisi sam! Ima i drugih nego ti
koji nepoznati od tebe žive tvojim životom.
I ono sve što ti bje, ču i što sni
gori u njima istim žarom, ljepotom i čistotom.

Ne gordi se! Tvoje misli nisu samo tvoje! One u drugima žive.
Mi smo svi prešli iste putove u mraku,
mi smo svi jednako lutali u znaku
traženja, i svima jednako se dive.

Sa svakim nešto dijeliš, i više vas ste isti.
I pamti da je tako od prastarih vremena.
I svi se ponavljamo, i veliki i čisti,
kao djeca što ne znaju još ni svojih imena.

I snagu nam, i grijehe drugi s nama dijele,
i sni su naši sami iz zajedničkog vrela.
I hrana nam je duše iz naše opće zdjele,
i sebični je pečat jedan nasred čela.

Stojimo čovjek protiv čovjeka, u znanju
da svi smo bolji, medjusobni, svi skupa tmuša,
a naša krv, i poraz svih, u klanju,
opet je samo jedna historija duša.

Strašno je ovo reći u uho oholosti,
no vrlo srećno za očajničku sreću,
da svi smo isti u zloći i radosti,
i da nam breme kobi počiva na pleću.

Ja sam u nekom tamo neznancu, i na zvijezdi
dalekoj, raspredan, a ovdje u jednoj niti,
u cvijetu ugaslom, razbit u svijetu što jezdi,
pa kad ću ipak biti tamo u mojoj biti?

Ja sam ipak ja, svojeglav, i onda kad me nema,
ja sam šiljak s vrha žrtvovan u masi;
o vasiono! ja živim i umirem u svijema;
ja bezimeno ustrajem u braći.

Zvijezde u visini

Ne ljubi manje koji mnogo ćuti
on mnogo traži, i on mnogo sluti,
i svoju ljubav (kao parče kruva
za gladne zube) on brižljivo čuva
za zvijezde u visini
za srca u daljini.

Ćutanje kaže: u tuđem svijetu
ja sanjam još o cvijetu i sonetu,
i o pitaru povrh trošne grede,
i o ljepoti naše svijetle bijede,
i u zar dana i u plavet noći
snim: ja ću doći, ja ću doći.

Notturno

Noćas se moje čelo žari,
noćas se moje vjeđe pote;
i moje misli san ozari,
umrijet ću noćas od ljepote.

Duša je strasna u dubini,
Ona je zublja u dnu noći;
Plačimo, plačimo u tišini,
Umrimo, umrimo u samoći.

Uhapšen u svojoj magli

Uhapšen u svojoj magli,
zakopčan u svojem mraku,
svako svojoj zvijezdi nagli,
svojoj ruži, svojem maku.

I svak žudi svetkovine
djetinjastih blagostanja,
sretne mrene i dubine
nevinosti i neznanja.

I na oblak koji tišti,
i na munju koja prijeti,
naša blaga Nada vrišti;
biti čisti. Biti sveti.

I kad nema Našeg Duha
među nama jednog sveca,
treba i bez bijela ruha
biti djeca, biti djeca.

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Created: 1997-09-25 Modified: 2010-05-29 http://www.borut.com/library/texts/tin/poetry_u.htm