#serbian poetry

[uniquekindoftrash]

Ђура Јакшић - Јевропи

Đura Jakšić - To Europe

[quince-of-mine]

Desanka Maksimović

[xoxojoka]

"Nobody will ever hug you this tightly,

all perturbed and pale.

I’m a sailor without a compass

whose ships always go crazy.

Nobody will ever

pour an entire last tenderness

into your bloodstream

like this,

nor find both hope and hopelessness inside of you.

Never again will you rot so wonderfully

in a common hotel,

yet not wish to get out of it.

You are the tastiest blood of this world

that I sponged with the bread

of my dark belly.

You are the salt from swollen lips

that we peeled off with our fangs

and spilled over my thighs

and your breasts.

You are the most infinite,

the deadliest sky

next to my rosy ear.

The most shameless girl

among all the women I've ever met.

The shiest woman

among all the girls I've ever met..."

— Miroslav Mika Antić, a fragment of "A Little Rocky Nocturne". Translated by me.

[dukhoiada]

~~ Ivan V. Lalić, "In Praise of Sleeplessness" (translated by Francis R. Jones), painting by Henri Rousseau

[therisingfog]

Novica Tadic's "Night Sonnet" (translated by Charles Simic)

[creatediana]

“Cargo” - a poem by Serbian poet Marija Knežević (born 1963), from her 2020 collection Breathing Technique translated by Sibelan Forrester 

[yeswearemagazine]

Remarkable oxymoron, deserving the total best, by the Serbian Jupiter Ovprsten, for her second YWAMag selection. Ruine Špicer Castle, Beočin, Serbia. © Jupiter Ovprsten :

[krissim]

Through night and moisture wild geese go south crying in painful glory. I feel like writing a dark story: Them carrying away on their two white wings I don’t know where, I don’t know what of my soul’s dearest things.

Desanka Maksimović - (Селице) Migratory Birds

Кроз ноћ и влагу дивље се гуске селе југу и болно кричу. Осећам жељу да мутну неку напишем причу: како односе оне собом на крила своја бела два из душе моје драго нешто, а не знам куда, и не знам шта.

[uniquekindoftrash]

Гаврило Принцип - песма "Сарајевски атентат 1914"

Gavrilo Princip - "Sarajevo assassination 1914" poem

[quince-of-mine]

5.

And if I'm the sun

I'm redundant: one plate is enough for each and all.

Boško Suvajdžić, "Ako sam ja vuk" ("If I am a wolf")

[xoxojoka]

"Just cross my mind,

My thoughts will scratch your cheek

Just come into my sight

My eyes will bark at you

Just open your mouth

My silence will break your jaws

Just remind me of yourself

My remembering will dig up the ground beneath your feet

That's how far we've come."

— Vasko Popa, "Give Me Back My Rags"

[uraandri]

andri's 2024 serbian epic poetry challenge

it really is a shame that the majority of the translations aren't easily available online, and that almost all translations are from the kosovo cycle, but here we are and i think you might find some of these interesting. serbian epic poetry is a part of serbian oral tradition; these are poems mostly composed by unknown authors and are traditionally recited by guslari. the majority of the songs have been collected during the later half of the 18th and first half of the 19th century by verious different chroniclers, such as the brothers grimm, with vuk stefanović karadžić making great efforts to collect and catalogue all of them. they are divided into cycles: non-historic cycle (poems about slavic mythology), pre-kosovo cycle (poems about events that predate the battle of kosovo), kosovo cycle (poems about events that happened just before and after the battle of kosovo), post-kosovo cycle (poems about post-battle events), cycle of kraljević marko, and cycle of hajduks and uskoks (the last cycle being actively recorded by vuk who participated in the serbian revolution).

linked here below are songs that belong to the kosovo and the cycle of marko kraljević with the adition of the begining of the revolt against the dahias, which belongs to the last cycle and is written by filip višnjić, the most famous guslar (usually the poems were distributed anonymously and each guslar would rewrite or ad onto a song during his preformance). i will try to update this list as much as i can, but the translations are rare in english (if you know german, look for german translations collected by brothers grimm)

ban strahin (pre-kosovo cycle)

prince marko and the vila

the death of mother of yugovichi

the miracle of tsar lazar

marko kraljević and the eagle

the building of ravanitsa

the downfall of the kingdom of serbia

tsar lazar and tsaritsa militsa

musich stefan

the building of skadar (this one is aslo pre-kosovo cycle)

the kosovo maiden

tsaritsa militsa and voyvoda vladeta

the supper in krushevats

captain milosh and ivan kosanchich

death of voyvoda prijezda (for some reason one of my personal favourites)

the begining of the revolt against the dahias

that's what i managed to find so far but i find more i will link them here. pick either one of these and have fun, and if you want to you can let me know how you like them. if you can read ćirilica you can find a lot of the songs in serbian here. enjoy!

[dukhoiada]

Ivan V. Lalić, "An Inventory of Moonlight" (translated by the poet)

[poems-from-around-the-world]

Death of a Raven - Desanka Maksimović - Serbia

Translator: Stephen Capus (Serbian)

It’s the last day of the old raven. His turn has come and soon a pall Of darkness will cover him up. But for now He suspects nothing at all As he plods along over virgin snow Like a peasant, flits up and alights On a bush, shakes the ice From a branch, rubs his beak on his claw… From behind the blue mountain a moon is emerging, Colder, more vast than ever was seen hitherto, As though slowly a door were opening To let the old raven pass through.

[outlying-hyppocrate]

learning languages exclusively so i can write poetry in them .

[cringelordofchaos]

Poleti, divlje dete moje

Poleti

Prati svoje Sunce žarko

I prati svoj Mesec u mraku

Poleti i dalje

I trči, i raširi krila tvoja

Nek ti vetar bude vodič

Nek ti zvezde budu mapa

I nek ti oblaci budu pomagali na svom putu

ka slobodi.

Leti i dalje i dalje

I napokon posle dugog puta

Bićeš ujedinjen

Sa svojom zemljom; sa svojim nebom

Bićeš jedan sa prirodom

I jedan sa divljinom

I nikad nećeš gledati iza sebe

I samo ćeš gledati put ka napred

Jer si napokon našao smisao

Divlje dete moje

Jer si napokon našao slobodu