My mother was telling me

Vinko Kalinić 03:39:00 0 comments Moje pjesme Poems (english) Translated by Darko Kotevski Vinko Kalinić

My mother was telling me:
my son, the Sun is up in heaven,
don’t run after it, as nobody’s ever
reached it so far.
- And me, I haven’t believed her,
because the Sun is something that every morning
emerges in the corner of the sky, to light up our day,
shines only till the night falls,
and my Sun shines even when everything else is
black like a coal.

My mother was telling me:
don’t get carried away, my son,
the Sun is blind!
And I didn’t listen to her.
- How is to live without the Sun?
And what else could the Sun be
but the eyes that lift up
this world, and my soul
right up to heaven.

My mother is not telling anymore:
don’t run, my son,
not even, that the Sun is
blind and high.

Only sometimes compassionately
her motherly eye sparkles:
when night replaces the day,
mother knows, which Sun
her stubborn son
has buried, deep
into his heart.

22nd March, 2011

Vinko Kalinić

(Translated 
by Darko Kotevski)

Govorila je meni mati moja

Govorila je meni mati moja:
sinko, na nebesima je sunce,
ne trči za njim, njega još nitko
dohvatio nije.
- A ja joj nisam vjerovao,
jer sunce ono što se svakog jutra
na ukrajku neba rađa, da osvijetli nam dan,
sija samo dok ne padne noć,
a moje sunce sja i kad sve je crno
kao ugar.

Govorila je meni mati moja:
ne zanosi se, sinko,
sunce je slijepo!
A ja je nisam poslušao.
- Kako živjeti bez sunca?
I što bi drugo sunce bilo
do li oči one što uznose
i svijet ovaj, i dušu moju
k nebesima.

Ne govori više mati moja:
ne trči, sinko,
niti da je sunce
slijepo i visoko.

Tek kadikad samilosno
majčinsko zablista joj oko:
kad zamjene se noć i dan,
znade mati, koje sunce
sin joj svojeglav
zakopa, u srcu
duboko.

Komiža, 21. 03. 2011.

Vinko Kalinić