Jedna cura
Jedna cura
Jedna cura
Jedna cura mala
Poljubac mi dala,
A sto ga je dala
Kad se pokajala;
Za poljubac jedan
Pesmu je iskala.
Kad si pesmu htela,
Sto si mi otela
Srce iz nedara
Koje pesme stvara,
Zoro moja bela!
(1857)
I Begged a Kiss of a Little Maid
I Begged a Kiss of a Little Maid
I begged a kiss of a little maid;
Shyly, sweetly, she consented;
Then of a sudden, all afraid,
After she gave it, she repented;
And now as penance for that one kiss
She asks a poem I'll give her this.
But how can my song be my very best
When she, with a voice as soft as Circe's,
Has charmed the heart from my lonely breast -
The heart, the fountain of all true verses?
Why, oh, why should a maid do this?
No I must give her back her kiss.
(Translated by Nikola Tesla and Robert Underwood Johnson)