Bosnian national poet Mak Dizdar - MESSAGE, a poem
Y Rapido
Ad hoc translation in English, from the fifth edition of
Mak Dizdar's book "Stone Sleeper" (published in Banja Luka
in 1984.)
MESSAGE
by Mehmedalija Mak Dizdar, poet of the Bosnian nation
You shall arrive some day at the head of armored cohorts from the North
And destroy my town down to its foundations
Delighted inside
bragging
"He is destroyed now
And destroyed is
His
Heretical
Religion"
Than you shall be amazed when you hear as I
Walk again
Silent through my town
Again
Seeking you
So secretly shall you, callous spook from the West,
Set my roots on fire
To the very bottom
And downfall
And than you shall utter your dark words
"Now this nest has been demolished
That dog shall die
Even if it be from the
Sorrow, alone"
But, I, by miracle, shall still on the land be, dreaming
As a wise preacher from the East,
That permits others neither be awake nor in dreams
You shall pour
Poison
Into the well,
From which I have to
Drink
And than you shall laugh in your drunken exhilaration
Bragging that I shall not ever again
Be
(You know nothing about the town in which I live
You have no faintest idea about the house in which I eat
You know nothing
About the cold well
From which I
Drink)
From the South, a cunning thief disguised as a merchant,
You shall cut my vineyard to its roots
So that under our feet
There be less shade
And precipice be
Greater
And so that more hunger be
In homes
But I shall tell you like this from afar
My ancient,
Deep,
Truth
(You know nothing about the signs in the vineyard
Nor about its keeper
You know not the value of such a gift)
My existence on this harsh earth
Is very short
But mean
While destroying its manifestations
You only reinforce
Its
Realities
And
Its
Dreams
Armed creature you are most cruel
And inquisitor of god
Bloodied you are up to your eyes
Up to despair
Crazed you are
From fighting
for the living
and the dead
Matter
You shall incinerate me at the end of this story
You shall incinerate me, I know
On your most holly
Bright
Pyre
Which
In
You
Here
Already
Grows
But on your frenzied
And horrifying
Execution ground
I shall not
Even
M
O
V
E
I shall be, trust me, firm like a rock
Until you finish your job
Until
The job
Gets done
By your
Flame
Such an ending shall be celebrated by
Your Trinitarian
Amen
Amen
Amen
At my spot
Cinders shall remain
Which women shall fight to gather
****
But there shall remain after me
On the first pile of stones
From some good
and aching hands
Blossoming
Flowery
Message
When it appears to you that your goal
has served your purpose the most –
Let it be known to you
That even his body
Has
Been
Only
His
Temporary
Abode
So you have only taken his body,
but his body was for him –
His Prison
And his
Tears
(Haven't I told you once already
That you know nothing about me –
That you know nothing about my bow and arrow
That you know nothing about my shield and sword
That you know nothing about those
Mighty weapons
That you know nothing about my perishable body
nor do you know what a powerful flame
In itself
It carries)
I wait for you
Because I know you
You shall come again some day
(You have firmly sworn to that
On the incense, on the cross, on the edge of the sword
Drunken from chanting damnation and smoke of the church incense)
So
Come
I got used a long time ago to your crusades
As one gets used to some big plagues
That come from afar
As one gets used to large icy whirling waters
That are brought by this ever rising
Night river
Darkness
****