S balkona u šumi

U Versaillesu svijetli metal
moderne Europe
udara i pjeva miru u čast:
smanjen na sjenku, Veliki rat
priziva proljeće, makove, mise.

Pod kestenima, u sivilu malo
rasvijetljenom Francuskom, shvaćamo
koliko program sadrži junaka,
barem dva-tri marša
više nego tužaljki.

Orkestar od čelika sa sumnjivom slasti
izvodi svaki pasaž marziale. Polako
se okrećem na jug:
nad vrhovima granja munje ranog ljeta.

Kasnije, pred ponoć, po rubu kontinenta
sedam gluhih lijevaka od vatre. Iznad
rosne trave, spori mjehuri
rasvjetnih raketa. Zatim dugi snopovi
noćnih projektila, kao štektanje
ruleta.

Između brojeva, crvenih, crnih,
najmanje je ono zeleno ništa
na koje u ovom krugu
ne igra nitko.

© Goran Čolakhodžić
Producción de Audio: Croatian P.E.N. Centre

From a balcony in the forest

In Versailles the shiny metal

of contemporary Europe

clangs and sings to honour peace:

shrunken to a shadow, the Great War

evokes spring, poppies, mass.

 

Under the chestnuts, in a dullness slightly

dispelled by the sheer fact of France, suddenly we realize

how many heroes there are on the programme,

at least two or three marches more

than the elegies.

 

An orchestra of steel that with dubious gusto

plays every passage marziale. Slowly,

we turn south: above the treetops the heat-

lightning of summer.

 

Later, at midnight, round the edge of the continent,

seven silent funnels of fire. Above

the dewy grass slowly rise the bubbles

of anti-aircraft flares. Then the long jets

of nightly projectiles, like the clicking

of a roulette.

 

Of all the numbers, red and black,

the least is that green nothing

that in this round

no one has bet on.

Translation: Goran Čolakhodžić