Danijela Jovanović 
Translator

on Lyrikline: 5 poems translated

from: srbščina to: angleščina

Original

Translation

(- 20) ZBIR

srbščina | Enes Halilović

Zid. 
Zid neizidan.
Zid sazidan.
Zid dozidan.
Zid razidan.
Zid nevidljiv. Zid predvidljiv.
Zid ničiji. Zid svačiji.
Zvučni zid.
Potporni zid.
Zatvorski zid.
Zid srednjovjekovne tvrđave koji čuje samo uzvike i jauke.
Zid iz čijih mazgala prosipaju vreo katran na opsadu.
Zid nacrtan. Zid precrtan.
Zid kojim je Zulkarnejn zazidao narode Jedžudž i Medžudž
                                                     jer su činili nered po Zemlji.
Ćelijski zid koji štiti plazmamembranu.
Zid praotac zidova.
Zaštitni zid koji kontroliše protok podataka u računarskoj mreži.
Zid za strijeljanje.
Zid lavirinta.
Zid između ili ili.
Zid između da i ne.
Zid između 0 i 1.
Zid između slova i zvuka.
Zid srušen pri zemljotresu.
Zid bezbojan. Zid premazan svim bojama.
Zid između pisca i epigona.
Antoninov zid - napušten.
Servijev zid koji je prvi izidan pomoću cementa.
Hadrijanov zid podignut kao zaštita od varvara.
Sumerski zid od nepečene opeke.
Reljefni zid u Egiptu.
Kineski zid zaliven krvlju graditelja.
Berlinski zid između Istoka i Zapada.
Zid plača.
Zid koji probija Edmond Dantes.
Sartrov Zid.
Zid iz epske pesme u Skadru gde je novorođenče dojilo uzidanu majku.
Administrativni zid.
Zid uprljan političkim parolama.
Zid – univerzalni protivnik koji teniseru vraća svaku lopticu.
Zid galerije koji gleda slikama u leđa.
Zid koji ima uši.
Živi zid u fudbalu.
Armirani zid atomskog skloništa.
Zid kroz koji je prošao Drakula.
Zid na koji se jedne zime naslonio Čaušesku.
Zid ćutanja.
I ovaj zid, danas i ovdje. Zid po kojem pišem. Zid o kojem pišem.

© Enes Halilović
from: Zidovi
Beograd: Albatros plus, 2014
Audio production: Serbian PEN Centre 2018

(-20) TOTAL

angleščina

The wall.

The wall unbuilt.

The wall built.

The wall added.

The wall ruined.

The wall invisible. The wall predictable.

Nobody’s wall. Anybody’s wall.

The soundwall.

The load bearing wall.

The prison wall.

The wall of the medieval fortress that hears only shouts and moans.

The wall through which cernels they pour boiling tar over the attackers.

The wall drawn. The wall crossed out.

The wall with which Zulqarnayn built in peopleYajuj and Majuj

because they were making chaos on Earth.

The cell wall that protects the cell membrane.

The wall the forefather of the walls.

The wall that protects data in the computer network.

The shooting wall.

The labyrinth wall.

The wall between or and or.

The wall between yes and no.

The wall between 0 and 1.

The wall between the letter and the sound.

The wall destroyed by the earthquake.

The wall with no colour. The wall colored with all colours.

The wall between the writer and the epigone.

The Antonine Wall - forsaken.

The Servian Wall - the first that was built using cement.

Hadrian’s Wall – erected as a protection against the barbarians.

Sumerian Wall made of mud-bricks.

The Great Wall of China suffused with its masons’ blood.

The Berlin Wall between the East and the West.

The Wailing Wall.

The wall knocked down by Edmond Dantès.

Sartre’s The Wall.

The wall from the epic poem The Building of Skadar where the walled in

mother nursed her infant.

The wall of administration.

The wall soiled with political slogans.

The wall – universal opponent that keeps returning balls to a tennis player.

The gallery wall that watches paintings from behind.

The wall which has ears.

The defensive wall in football.

Steel-reinforced wall of the fallout shelter.

The wall through which Dracula passed.

The wall Ceausescu leaned against one winter.

The Wall of Silence.

And this wall, here and today. The wall on which I write. The wall

about which I write.

Translated by Danijela Jovanović

(-19) ZID POSTOJANJA

srbščina | Enes Halilović

Vidi! 

Glista.

Krenula nekud.

Izvadih skalpel. Posjekoh je. Na pola.

Na ovaj način od jedne gliste nastaju dvije gliste;
i odmah je počela regeneracija.
Vremenom, gliste će nadoknaditi
polovinu koja im nedostaje.

I upitah dvije gliste: kada je vaš rođendan?
Onda kada je rođena prvobitna glista
ili danas kad sam je prepolovio?

© Enes Halilović
from: Zidovi
Beograd: Albatros plus, 2014
Audio production: Serbian PEN Centre 2018

(-19) THE WALL OF EXISTENCE

angleščina

Look!

An earthworm.


It’s going somewhere.


I took out a scalpel. I cut it. In two.


In this way from one, two earthworms originated;

and the regeneration started right away.

With time, the earthworms will restore

the half they miss.


I asked two earthworms: when is your birthday?

Then when the first earthworm was born

or the day when I cut it in two?

Translated by Danijela Jovanović

(-15) PROZOR NA ZIDU

srbščina | Enes Halilović

Rođen u idealnom društvu, besplatno sam dobio sobu
u kojoj ću trajati.
Tražio sam dozvolu – da probijem jedan od četiri zida,
da načinim prozor.

Rekoše da stavim sliku vođe – ona je prozor u svijet.

Pitao sam sva četiri zida
koji može izdržati ranu, jer kanim ekser zakucati.
I sva četiri zida se javiše kao dobrovoljci. Rekoše:
Bolje nositi sliku vođe, nego biti zid za uza zid.

Kad sam okačio sliku – progovori vođa sa slike.
Ohol, tražio je da pozlatim ram.
U inat vođi, uklonih sliku sa zida. I ugledah prazninu.
To sam shvatio kao umjetnost: praznina se
ukazala kao slijepi prozor, ali soba, sa sva četiri zida,
stade se cerekati.

Pitao sam – šta ti je, sobo?

Nisam ja soba. Ja sam ćelija.

© Enes Halilović
from: Zidovi
Beograd: Albatros plus, 2014
Audio production: Serbian PEN Centre 2018

(-15) WINDOW ON THE WALL

angleščina

Being born in the ideal society, I’ve got a room free of charge


to exist in it.

I’ve asked for permission – to make a hole on one of the four walls,

to make a window.


They’ve told me to put a picture of our leader – it’s a window to the world.


I’ve asked all four walls

which can withstand a wound because I want to hammer a nail?

And all four walls volunteered. They’ve told me: Better

bear a picture of our leader, than to be a wall for against the wall.


When I hanged the picture – a leader from the picture spoke.

Haughty, he asked me to gild the frame.

To spite him, I took away the picture from the wall. And I saw a void.

I decided to see it as art: the void

showed itself as a blind window, but the room, with all four walls,

started to laugh.



I’ve asked – what’s the matter, room?


I’m not a room. I’m a prison cell.


Translated by Danijela Jovanović

(-14) MATEMATIČKA RAVAN

srbščina | Enes Halilović

S one strane je Ništa.
Kopkalo me, gonilo me Ništa,
zato preskočih Zid.

Ali sad vidim, i s ove strane je Ništa.

Dakle: dva puta Ništa i Zid.

Dva Ništa daju jedno Ništa.
Ostaje: Ništa i Zid.

Ništa je ipak Ništa.

Ostaje
samo Zid.

© Enes Halilović
from: Zidovi
Beograd: Albatros plus, 2014
Audio production: Serbian PEN Centre 2018

(-14) MATHEMATICAL PLANE

angleščina

From that side there is Nothing.

It intrigued me, Nothing pursued me,

that’s why I jumped over the Wall.


But now I see, from this side there is also Nothing.


So: two times Nothing and the Wall.


Two Nothings are one Nothing.

Remains: Nothing and the Wall.


Nothing is still Nothing.


Only the Wall

remains.

Translated by Danijela Jovanović

(-7) KONGRES STRAHOVA

srbščina | Enes Halilović

U tamnom prostoru,
iza zatvorenih vrata, daleko od očiju javnosti,
održava se kongres strahova.

Peščanik ima strah:
Niko me neće okrenuti.

Zid ima strah:
Zazidaće me, ostaću bez vrata i prozora.

Hodnik ima strah:
Niko nikada neće zaspati u meni.

Jezero ima strah:
Presušiću pa će svako gaziti po mom dnu.

Epidemija ima strah:
Ako umorim sve ljude, neću imati kuda da se širim.

Košulja ima strah:
Završiću kao potirača u kupatilu.

Svetionik ima strah:
Sviće! Plašim se, nikada neće omrknuti.

Lopta ima strah:
Probušiću se i moja rupa biće važnija od mene.

Led ima strah:
Postaću opet ono što sam bio, a potom
ko zna na koju ću stranu
.

Cipela ima strah:
Nekome biću velika, Nekome mala.

I svaki od strahova potvrđuje:
Ja nisam najveći od svih strahova.
Ovo je gubljenje vremena
.

© Enes Halilović
from: Zidovi
Beograd: Albatros plus, 2014
Audio production: Serbian PEN Centre 2018

(-7) CONGRESS OF FEARS

angleščina

In a dark space,


behind the closed door, far from the public eye,

a congress of fears is taking place.


A sandglass has a fear:

No one will invert me.


A wall has a fear:

They will wall me in, I’ll be without doors and windows.


A corridor has a fear:

No one will ever fall asleep in me.


A lake has a fear:

I will dry out and everybody will walk over my bottom.


An epidemic has a fear:

If I kill all the people, I wouldn’t be able to spread.


A shirt has a fear:

I will end up as a mat in a bathroom.


A light house has a fear:

It’s dawning! I’m afraid, it will never get dark.


A ball has a fear:

I’ll be perforated and my hole will be more important than me.


An ice has a fear:

I will became again what I used to be, and then

who knows where will I end up.


A shoe has a fear:

I’ll be too big for somebody, I’ll be too small for somebody.


And each of the fears confirms:

I’m the biggest of all fears.

This is a waste of time.

Translated by Danijela Jovanović