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;

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)