Goran
Goran Noć suviše velika za moje zvezdano čelo
u nekim šumama crnim nepoznatim
I drvo je reklo nemoj. Jutro moje belo
ime ti svoje ostavljam kad ne mogu da se vratim
Pčele sleću na leš koga nema
Zvona odlaze u prostor crnim stepeništem
Moj je završen dan. Al se na počinak ne sprema
san moj iza brda gde mrtav sebe ištem.
Ovde dole svako svoju tamu ima
Moj mrak je senka ptice. O ne ima
puta kojim bi do mene mogli doći
Ko proleće koje zaboravi da cveta
sad ležim mrtav na severu sveta
Smrti ljubomorna najveća moja noći!
Goran*
A night too grand for my stellar mind
inside some forests black unknown
Tree too has said don't. My white Dawn
I leave you my name since I can't go on.
Bees land on the corpseless place,
Bells depart down the black staircase into a land
My day ends. But for rest does not prepare
my dream behind hill, where dead myself I crave.
Down here all have darkness of their own
My dark is the shadow of a bird. May be gone
road which they could reach me through
As a springtime which forgot to bloom
at the north-side of the world I now lay dead
my greatest night, the jealous death!
(Translation and note by Aleksandra Milanović)
*Goran is a Slavic common male name often used in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. In the South Slavic Languages Goran means "woodsman", "the man from the mountains" or "highlander".
This poem is not dedicated to just any Goran, but to a great Croatian poet Ivan Goran Kovacic. He is famous for his brilliant poem "Jama" ("Pit") which ranks among the most celebrated Croatian poems ever written. It describes atrocities committed by fascists during The Second World War. His work is an example of anti-war poetry with messages against torture, mass murders and war crimes.