Sin zemlje

Teški smo Zemlji. Dugo me je
Kopkalo to osećanje. Rilo  
Po meni, potkopavalo
Ovo malo mira  
I sigurnosti. Kroz glas,
Kroz dah, kroz riku
Šumskih zveri – Zemlja
Se oslobađa nas.
Cvrkut ptica, otvaranje
Pupoljaka, mirisi
Poljskog cveća - tako
Nas Zemlja predaje,
Vraća nebu. I kao
Da pri tom žuri.

Zemlja ne zna, da bez nas
Ne postoji. Da bi bez
Nas bila gola
I uzaludna
Kao bilijarska kugla
Zauvek sletela
Sa meke čoje
Bilijarskog stola.

Duša: to je prostor u kome
Zemlja jedino postoji. Tu se
Ona kotrlja i okreće,
Oko sebe i oko drugih planeta.

Poslednje osećanje, ono koje
Umirućeg prevede iz ovog
U onaj svet – eto ivice
Provalije dublje
Od najdubljeg kanjona.

Zemlja to zna, i zato
Okleva: ne da nas sve,
I odjednom.

Ja sam ovde. Cvet
Krvavih latica
Otvorio se u meni.

© Vojislav Karanović
From: Sin zemlje
Beograd : Srpska književna zadruga, 1999
ISBN: 86-379-0735-0
Audio production: 2006, M.Mechner / Literaturwerkstatt Berlin

Son of the Earth

We are a burden to the Earth. Since long ago
I’ve been disrupted by such feeling. It used to drill
through me, uprooting
This frail peace  
And safety. Through voice,
Through breath, through roaring of
Wild beasts – the Earth
Is getting rid of us.
Twittering of birds, opening
Of buds, odours of
Wild flowers – thus
The Earth gives us away,
back to the sky. As if
In a great hurry.

The Earth does not know, that without us
It does not exist. That without us
It would be barren
And futile
Like a pool ball
Fallen down forever
From the soft baize
Of the pool table.

The Soul: it is the only space
Where the Earth exists. There it
Rolls and rotates,
Around itself and around other planets.

The last feeling, the one that
Leads a dying one from this world
Into another – it is the edge
Of an abyss deeper
Than the deepest canyon.

The Earth knows that, that’s why
It hesitates, unwilling to give us all away
At once.

I am here. A flower
With bloody petals
Has opened within me.

Translated by Zoran Paunović