Kad budem trava

Kad budem trava

Možda će onda bolje da bude

Kada se jednoga dana preselim

U crve i u zemne grude.

Ljuljat ću se u travama veselim,

Mjesečinom i suncem poliven,

Rasitnjen i dobro skriven.

Ništa mi neće ostat od uma,

Nijedna misao mrtvoga duha;

Ja neću imat ni uha ni sluha,

Da slušam tišinu svojega šuma.

Ako me kada stanu i kosit,

Neće mi bola nanijeti kosa -

Jedini teret koji ću nosit

U novom životu biti će rosa.

When I Am Grass

Perhaps it will be better

When I finally move one day

To worms and earthy dens.

I'll sway in the cheerful grass,

Bathed in sun and moon at night,

Fragmented and out of sight.

Of my mind nothing will remain,

Not one thought from the dead soul;

I'll have no ears or hearing,

To listen to the silence of my refrain.

If they ever stop my stem to tear,

The sickle won’t harm me where I grew –

And the only weight I’ll have to bare

In my new life will be the dew.

(Translated by Pavle Ninković)