My Weariness of Epic Proportions

I like it when
Achilles
Gets killed
And even his buddy Patroclus –
And that hothead Hector –
And the whole Greek and Trojan
Jeunesse dorée
Are more or less
Expertly slaughtered
So there’s finally
Peace and quiet
(The gods having momentarily
Shut up)
One can hear
A bird sing
And a daughter ask her mother
Whether she can go to the well
And of course she can
By that lovely little path
That winds through
The olive orchard

© Charles Simic
De: New and Selected Poems
New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013

Moje klonuće epskih razmjera

Volim kad
Ahilej
pogiba
čak i kad njegov kompa Patroklo –
ona usijana glava Hektor –
i cijela grčka i trojanska
Jeunesse dorée
biva manje-više
stručno poklana
pa kad naposljetku nastupe
Mir i tišina
(jer bogovi su načas
utihnuli)
da bi se odnekud začuo
pjev
ptice
i glas kćeri koja pita majku
može li do izvora
i naravno da može
onom krasnom malom stazom
što tako lijepo kroz maslinik
vijuga.

Prijevod: Damir Šodan
from the book Hotel nesanica, izabrane pjesme / Hotel Insomnia, Chosen poems