Ja sam stranac
Ja sam stranac
I am a nobody. Who are you?
E. Dickinson
Ja sam stranac! Dobar vecer
Da l’ si i ti stranac?
Dva smo, znaci? nemoj reci, jer
stavit ce nam lanac.
Tuzno li je biti domac
i prosto, poput zabe,
kreketat do u bozju ponoc
sred zadimljene grabe!
© 1951, Ivan Slamnig
From: Analecta, 1971
I am a Foreigner
I am a nobody. Who are you?
E. Dickinson
I am a Foreigner! Good evening.
Are you a foreigner too?
It makes us a couple, isn’t it so? Don’t tell, because
they’ll chain up me and you.
It is sad to be a native
and it is boorish, like a frog,
croaking all night long
from a fuming bog!
© Translation: 2003, Sibila Petlevski
I am a Foreigner
I am a nobody. Who are you?
E. Dickinson
Am a foreigner. Good evening
Could you be one, as well?
Two of us, then? Please, say nothing,
they'd chain us, sure as hell.
It's so sad to be a native
and simply, like a frog,
croak until the God-blessed midnight
amidst a steaming bog!
(Translated by Slobodan Cekić)
Za Meju ♥