Pomagaj, Gospode, ako Boga znaš!

HELP, LORD, IF YOU BELIEVE IN GOD!

For V.S.

As I grew up, the mountain got ever smaller

And the Porch climbed.

In one moment, we balanced the accounts.

I felt like God

Between the Dry Mountain and Babička forest.

By the way, it is dry on one side only.

The malicious do not think so,

We do not envy their opinion.

For us, it is a mountain only,

The rest we call a height, a hill, a ridge, a forest,

And to all this we add a word or two, like small,

large, lower, upper, or a name of a well known

man or highwayman of ours.

It has the Porch, it has the Table, it has the Hawk's Rock. it has everything.

It has rivers, streams, ravines, valleys, this part, that part,

it has wolves, it has bears,it has nightingales, partridges,

larks, tomtits, goldfinches, cuckoos, magpies,

crows, sparrows, it has, it has..

We sit at the Table with the God

We picnic and talk,

How it was in the elapsed wars,

Who died between the two  patron saint days,

Where the family so-and-so moved,

Where have our girls got married,

With the God's help!

We toast,

Drink,

By God, we get drunk, as well.

He sneaks out soundlessly, somehow,

And we wonder,

Where have we been,

And how do we get down to earth now,  without a ladder?

Help, Lord, if you believe in God!

Ilustration: Dragoslav Živković, Ecce homo, oil on canvas.

Translated by Slobodan Cekić
  Za Meju ♥