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.