1938.
Te godine su nacisti umarširali u Beč,
Supermen se prvi put pojavio u Action Comics,
Staljin je tamanio svoju braću revolucionare,
Prvi Dairy Queen restoran otvoren je u Kankakeeju, Illinois,
Dok sam ležao u svojoj kolijevci i zapišavao pelene.
„Mora da si bio divna beba”, pjevao je Bing Crosby.
Pilot kog su novine prozvale „Pogrešan smjer” Corrigan
Poletio je iz New Yorka prema Kaliforniji
Ali je umjesto toga sletio u Irsku, dok sam posmatrao svoju majku
Kako iz svoje plave spavaćice izvlači dojku i postaje mi sve bliža.
Tog septembra uragan je čitav jedan bioskop
U Westhampton Beachu oduvao u more.
Ljudi su se pribojavali smaka svijeta.
Riba za koju se vjerovalo da je izumrla prije 70 miliona godina
Pojavila se u mreži južnoafričkih ribara.
Ležao sam u kolijevci dok su dani postajali hladniji i kraći,
I prvi teški snijeg je pao preko noći
Ispunjavajući moju sobu tišinom.
Vjerujem da sam još dugo, dugo slušao svoj plač.
Nineteen Thirty-Eight
That was the year the Nazis marched into Vienna,
Superman made his debut in Action Comics,
Stalin was killing off his fellow revolutionaries,
The first Dairy Queen opened in Kankakee, Ill.,
As I lay in my crib peeing in my diapers.
“You must have been a beautiful baby”, Bing Crosby sang.
A pilot the newspapers called Wrong Way Corrigan
Took off from New York heading for California
And landed instead in Ireland, as I watched my mother
Take a breast out of her blue robe and come closer.
There was a hurricane that September causing a movie theater
At Westhampton Beach to be lifted out to sea.
People worried the world was about to end.
A fish believed to have been extinct for seventy million years
Came up in a fishing net off the coast of South Africa.
I lay in my crib as the days got shorter and colder,
And the first heavy snow fell in the night.
Making everything very quiet in my room.
I believe I heard myself cry for a long, long time.
Naše spasenje
Ono što ne podnosim su kratki zimski dani,
Hladna popodneva bez snijega,
Tamna noć koja žuri da se spusti
Čim prođe poslednji školski autobus.
Nerviraju me žene koje ne pale
Više od jedne lampe u kući,
Koje štede na grijanju
I navlače na sebe po tri džempera i šal.
Ono što me dovodi do očaja su obroci
Pojedeni u tišini ispred televizora,
Na kom se recitali dnevnih užasa
Završavaju turobnom vremenskom prognozom.
Neutješan sam što svake noći
Odlazim na spavanje u hladnu sobu
Sa njom koja još uvijek ima snage
Da se moli Bogu za naše spasenje.
Our Salvation
What I hate are short winter days,
Cold and snowless afternoons,
The dark night in a hurry to fall
After the last school bus passes.
I dislike a woman who won’t light
But one lamp in the house,
Who keeps the heat way down
And wears three sweaters and a shawl.
What drives me to despair are meals
Eaten in silence with the TV on,
The recital of the day’s horrors
Followed by a grim weather report.
It breaks my heart to go to bed
Every night in a room without heat
With the one who stills has strength
To pray to God for our salvation.
Pogrebno slovo
Naš pokojni prijatelj nije mogao da smisli plavo nebo,
Propovjednike koji citiraju Bibliju,
Političare koji ljube malu djecu,
Žene koje su tako slatke i mile.
Volio je pijance u crkvi,
Nudiste-odbojkaše,
Pse lutalice koji se umiljavaju,
Ptice koje pjevaju o divnom vremenu dok seru.
Graveside Oration
Our late friend hated blue skies,
Bible-quoting preachers,
Politicians kissing babies,
Women who are all sweetness.
He liked drunks in church,
Nudists playing volleyball,
Stray dogs making friends,
Birds singing of fair weather as they crap.
The Paris Review, Issue 192, 2010
Preveo Vojislav Pejović
Peščanik.net, 09.08.2010.