Randall A. Major 
Translator

on Lyrikline: 2 poems translated

from: serbian, bosnian to: english

Original

Translation

EVROPA 2015/16:

serbian | Dragana Mladenović

1.
nisam hodala s vama/kraj vas
rukavi mi nisu bili mokri/ruke blatnjave
ni dete u krilu/ni vlažno ćebe
poda mnom/celu noć
nisam sedela/dremala kraj vas
s vama/ u blatu čekala jutro/nešto
moj šator nije prokišnjavao/nikada
nisam prespavala u šatoru
i nikada u gumenom čamcu
suviše daleko od obale/plaže
nikada nisam kročila na lezbos
nisam zagrlila/prenela
nijedno vaše uplašeno/smrznuto dete
nisam s vama/kraj vas pregazila nijednu
hladnu/plitku reku na granici
i nisam u gluvo doba/ vani čekala
satima mokra
nisam hodala s vama/kraj vas
u patikama/nisam ih ponela
a papuče mi je progutalo blato


2.
nisam stajala s vama/kraj vas
sinoć dok ste čekali/nisam čekala
gledala sam homeland/vesti
noć nisam provela napolju/u magli
gorela je lampa/ujutru je s prozora
sve bilo belo/drveće mokro i
sve poznato/ništa nepoznato
noćas nisam ložila vatru/
samo sam čitala/uživala
nije mi bilo hladno/vlažno
i moje dete nije stojeći spavalo
ružno/nešto sanjalo
noćas nisam stajala s vama/kraj vas
u jakni/nisam je ponela
a ćebe mi je progutala vatra 


3.
nisam se budila s vama/kraj vas
nisam otvorila oči/bilo je rano jutro
i čitav jedan svet u pokretu/nisam
to bila ja
nisam se probudila/ni leđa
mi nisu bila hladna/preslikan
jesenji zid/ i nisam pitala
koji je ovo grad/jesmo li
stigli/otkuda sav ovaj svet/
grad koji trči kroz crveno/žuto/zeleno
lišće/u parku nisam bila
s vama kraj staničnog zida
i niko nije rekao
postoje samo jedna vrata
kroz koja prolaze
svi
noćas nisam sanjala
palmiru/damask/homs
nikada ih nisam videla
nisam se probudila s vama/
kraj vas i nisam mislila
na kuću/na ono što je ostalo/na dom
samo sam izašla/
nisam se ni okrenula/
ne znam jesam li
zaključala vrata/
jesam li ponela ključ

© Dragana Mladenović
Audio production: Haus für Poesie, 2017

EUROPE 2015/16:

english

1.
I didn’t walk with you/beside you
my sleeves were not wet/nor hands muddy
no child in my lap/nor a blanket damp
beneath me/all night long
I wasn’t sitting/nodding off beside you
with you/in the mud awaiting the morning/for something
my tent wasn’t leaking/never
have I spent the night in a tent
nor ever in a rubber raft
way too far from the shore/beach
never have I set foot on lesbos
I didn’t hold/carry in my arms
a single one of your frightened/frozen children
I didn’t cross with you/beside you a single
cold/shallow river on the border
nor did I wait in the dead of night/out there
wet for hours
I didn’t walk with you/beside you
in sneakers/I didn’t bring them
and the mud swallowed up my slippers


2.
I didn’t stand with you/beside you
last night as you waited/I didn’t wait
I watched homeland/the news
I didn’t spend the night outside/in the fog
a lamp was burning/from the window come morning
everything was white/all the trees wet and
all was familiar/nothing unfamiliar
last night I didn't light a fire/
I just read/enjoyed myself
I was not cold/wet
and my child didn't sleep standing up
dreaming/something awful
I didn’t stand with you/beside you
in a jacket/I didn't bring it
and the fire swallowed up my blanket 


3.
I didn’t wake with you/beside you
I didn’t open my eyes/it was early morning
and an entire world in motion/that
was not me
I didn’t wake up/nor was my back
cold/a reproduction
of a wall in autumn/and I didn’t ask
which town is this/are we
there yet/who are all these people/
this city racing through red/yellow/green
leaves/in the park it wasn’t me
with you beside the station wall
and no one said
there’s only one door
that lets in
everyone
last night I didn’t dream of
palmyra/damascus/homs
never have I seen them
I didn’t wake up with you/
beside you and I didn’t think
of my house/of what remained/of home
I just went out/
didn't even look back/
I don't know if  
I locked the door
or even took the key

Translated by Ema Pandrc and Randall A. Major

Emigrantski soul

bosnian | Faruk Šehić

Kada bih imao dovoljno para poslao bih sebe u Berlin
DHL-om ili FedExom, moja težina je oko 85 kilograma
I trebalo bi mi dosta para da svoju težinu preselim u Berlin
Ništa, pozajmiću novac, uvijek ima ljudi koji imaju toliko novčanica
Koliko je potrebno da se stigne u Berlin u kutiji DHL-a
Odlučio sam da me FedEx ne zanima, jer mu je ime predugo
I rimuje se sa svim bosanskim firmama čiji vlasnici vole
Staviti „ex“ na kraju naziva svoje kompanije, misleći kako
Će tako njihova comp. biti zapadnjački uspješna u biznisu
Poslaću se da dođem na Hauptbahnhof, tu sam već bio
Odatle se mogu snaći dalje, U-bahn sam nešto malo i upoznao
Njegov miris me privlači, navučen sam na miris berlinskog metroa
On mi obećava brzinu i dobar provod u noćima u kojima se može uživati
Moram se poslati u Berlin, želim dodirivati kamen Brandenburger Tora
Milovati guzove grčkim boginjama od kamena boje bijele kafe
Piti kafu na Potsdamer Platzu okružen vrapcima, koji, moram to reći
Bukvalno liče na pernate loptice sa kljunovima, koji im služe
Da odrede pravac leta ispod staklene kupole, ispod koje su nanizana
Neka jedra, čas mi se čini da su jedra, a drugi put da su džinovske kravate
I vrapci su me opkolili dok sam pio kafu, grijali se na suncu
Čekali da im dam kruha, jer sam sjedio na terasi australskog restorana
Gdje na repertoaru nude odrezak od krokodila i file od koala
Berlin je grad u kojem te od viška istorije ne može zaboljeti glava
To me je pročistilo, dok sam hodao po mrtvim njemačkim i
Savezničkim vojnicima, tačnije po fragmentima njihovih skeleta
Po travi ispred Reichstaga, pored rijeke Spree, gdje nebom lete
Pravi orlovi, ispod trave su bili slojevi istorije, čiste kao suza
Moram se poslati u Berlin, čvrsto sam odlučio pobjeći iz Sarajeva
U poštanskoj kocki od kartona, na koju će nalijepiti oznaku: Hitno!
Gore ću biti oslobođen feleričnih nacija i nedoraslih državica
Imam plavu kosu, zelene oči, sigurno će me pustiti na rendgenskoj
Kontroli, jer oni znaju, da, iako u Berlinu nisam rođen, imam ja
Puno jači adut u džepu: tajanstveni vodeni žig na svojim zjenicama
To je biometrijski pasoš države koja još nije stvorena
Jedne bezgranične države, ali do tada
Berlin će mi biti sasvim dovoljan.

© Faruk Šehić
from: Moje rijeke
Sarajevo: Buybook, 2014
Audio production: Haus für Poesie / 2017

Emigrant Soul

english

Had I money enough I’d mail myself to Berlin
By DHL or FedEx, I weigh about 85 kilograms
So I’d need plenty of cash to move my weight to Berlin
Oh well, I'll borrow the money, there's always someone with that many bills
That would get you to Berlin in a box from DHL
Not interested in FedEx, I decided, because their name is too long
And rhymes with all the Bosnian firms whose owners like
To have "ex" at the end of their company names, thinking that
It would bring their comp. Western-like business success
I’ll mail myself to the Hauptbahnhof, there I've already been
From there I’ll manage on my own, I've gotten to know the U-bahn a bit
Its smell draws me in, the smell of Berlin's metro has me hooked
It promises me speed and good times on pleasurable nights
I have to mail myself to Berlin, I want to touch the stone of the Brandenburger Tor
To fondle the bottoms of the Greek goddesses of stone the color of white coffee
To sip coffee on the Potsdamer Platz surrounded by sparrows which, I must say
Literally look like feathery balls with beaks, that help them
Decide their flight paths beneath the glass dome, beneath which is a line  
Of sails, once they seem like sails, then like gigantic ties
And the sparrows surrounded me as I had my coffee, warming themselves in the sun
Waiting for breadcrumbs from me, as I was sitting on the patio of an Australian restaurant
With its repertoire of crocodile steaks and koala filet
Berlin is a city where you never tire of its history
That cleansed me, as I walked upon the dead German and
Allied soldiers, actually upon the fragments of their skeletons
Upon the grass before the Reichstag, along the River Spree, where in the sky
Real eagles fly, the grass covering layers of history, as pure as the driven snow
I have to mail myself to Berlin, I've made up my mind to flee from Sarajevo
In a cardboard postal cube, which they will label: Express!
Up there I’ll be free of nations on the fritz and immature little states
My hair is blond, my eyes green, surely they will pass me through the X-ray
Check, because they know that, though not born in Berlin, I do have
A much stronger ace up my sleeve: a secret watermark on my pupils
It’s the biometric passport of a country yet to be born
A borderless country, but until then
Berlin will suit me just fine.

Translated by Randall A. Major and Ema Pandrc