Kad dođes u bilo koji grad

When you come to any town

And one comes to any town very late

When you come very late to any town

In case that town happens to be Valjevo

Where I also came

You'll come by the path you had to come by

Which didn't exist before you

But was born with you

For you to go by your path

And meet her whom you must meet

On the path you must go by

Who was your life

Even before you met her

Or knew that she existed

Both her and the town to which you came.

*****

Until she comes into your life

And there forever remains

She who started towards you

From a great distance

From somewhere in the Russian Jerusalem

From the Caucasus from Pyatigorsk

Where she had never been

And her name was what it was

For instance Vera Pavlodoljska

And looked the way she looked

The way no one on earth looks anymore.

*****

That will be the only town

Where you’ve always been

And as soon as you heard her name

And before you met her

You always knew her

And already loved her for centuries.

When you come to any town

And one comes to any town very late

When you come very late to any town

In case that town happens to be Valjevo

You will come stepping to a double echo

Yours and the clatter of another

Who travels with you

And whose voice blows in the wind

On an unusual day for that time of year

So even you won’t be sure

What town that is

Nor which are your steps

You’ll only know that voice

That doesn’t blow in the wind

But appears in you

*****

When you come very late to any town

The world will become a reminder of her

And there won’t be a single place on earth

Where she won’t be waiting for you

Nor a mirror in which she won’t appear

Nor blonde hair that isn’t hers

Nor a cloud without her silken smile

Space, fields and water

have remembered her

The way she was when you first met her

In any town

*****

And nothing would be the way that it is

If it could have been the way that it couldn’t

Because there exists only one town

And only one arrival

And only one encounter

And each is the first and only

And it never happened before or after

And all towns are one

Parts of one single town

Of a town above all towns

Of a town that is you

Towards which everyone goes

*****

And as soon as you saw her

You loved her from the beginning

And in advance rued the parting

Which took place

Before you met her

Because there exists only one town

And only one woman

And one single day

And one song above all songs

And one single word

And one town in which you heard it

And one mouth that said it

And from everything about the way it uttered it

You knew it was uttering it for the first time

And that you could quietly shut your eyes

Because you’d already died and already risen

And that which never was had repeated itself.

(Translated by Pavle Ninkovic)

Kad dođes u bilo koji grad

A u bilo koji grad se dolazi vrlo kasno

Kad dođes vrlo kasno u bilo koji grad

Ako taj grad slučajno bude Valjevo

Gde sam i ja došao

Doći ćeš putem kojim si morao doći

Koji pre tebe nije postojao

Nego se s tobom rodio

Da ideš svojim putem

I sretneš onu koju moraš sresti

Na putu kojim moras ići

Koja je bila tvoj život

I pre nego što si je sreo

I znao da postoji

I ona i grad u koji si došao.

* * * * *

Dok dođe u tvoj zivot

I tu se zauvek zaustavi

Ona koja je prema tebi krenula

Iz velike daljine

Odnekud iz Ruskog Jerusalima

Sa Kavkaza iz Pjatigorska

U kome nikad nije bila

I zvala se kako se zvala

Recimo Vera Pavladoljska

I izgledala kako je izgledala

Kako više niko na svetu ne izgleda.

* * * * *

Biće to jedini grad

U kome si oduvek bio

I čim si čuo njeno ime

I pre nego što si je sreo

Oduvek si je znao

I voleo već vekovima.

Kad dođes u bilo koji grad

A u bilo koji grad se dolazi vrlo kasno

Kad dodjes vrlo kasno u bilo koji grad

Ako taj grad slučajno bude Valjevo

Doći ćeš korakom koji dvostruko odjekuje

Tvojim i batom još nekoga

Ko s tobom putuje

I glas mu ide po vetru

U dan neobičan za to doba godine

Da ni sam nećeš biti siguran

Ni koji je to grad

Ni koji su tvoji koraci

Samo ćeš poznati onaj glas

Koji ne ide po vetru

Nego se javlja u tebi

* * * * *

Kad dođes vrlo kasno u bilo koji grad

Svet će postati uspomena na nju

I neće biti ni jednog mesta na zemlji

Gde te neće sačekivati

Ni ogledala u kojem je nećeš videti

Ni plave kose koja nije njena

Ni oblaka bez njenog svilenog osmeha

Zapamtio je prostor

Gora i voda

Onakvu kakvu si je prvi put video

U bilo kojem gradu

* * * * *

I ništa ne bi bilo kao što jeste

Da je moglo biti kao što nije

Jer postoji samo jedan grad

I samo jedan dolazak

I samo jedan susret

I svaki je prvi i jedini

I nikad pre ni posle nije se dogodio

I svi gradovi su jedan

Delovi jednog jedinoga grada

Grada nad gradovima

Grada koji si ti

Prema kome svi idu

* * * * *

I čim si je video

Oduvek si je voleo

I unapred oplakivao rastanak

Koji se zbio

Pre nego što si je sreo

Jer postoji samo jedan grad

I samo jedna žena

I jedan jedini dan

I jedna pesma nad pesmama

I jedna jedina reč

I jedan grad u kome si je čuo

I jedna usta koja su je rekla

A po svemu kako su je izgovorila

Znao si da je izgovaraju prvi put

I da možeš mirno sklopiti oči

Jer si već umro i već vaskrsnuo

I ponovilo se ono što nikad nije bilo.