Lampa

Lampa

A ti si opšiv mojih nesanica,

Pena što rubi vrtlog od praznine;

Bezlična, znam ti svaku crtu lica

U mreži ostakljene paučine

U naprslom ogledalu; tišina

Mreška se kao skorup od tvog glasa

Iz druge sobe, gde je pomrčina

U kojoj treptiš ko praslika spasa -

Leptire sive šalješ, da mi kruže

Okolo lampe u krhkoj orbiti,

Po slojevima nevidljive ruže,

A kad pred zoru usnem, tada i ti

Utrneš, ko na okret prekidača

U ruci što je odsutna, al jača.

Lamp

And you’re the source of my insomnia,

Foam that crowns the whirlpool of emptiness;

Faceless, I know every line of your face

In the crystallised spider web

In the shattered mirror; silence

Ripples like the cream of your voice

From another room, where there is darkness

In which you blink like the prototype of salvation -

You send grey butterflies, to circle

About my lamp in a precarious orbit,

On the layers of an invisible rose,

And when I rise at dawn, that’s when

You turn numb, like by a flick of the switch 

In the absent, yet stronger hand.

(Translated by Pavle Ninković)