Godine po želji

iz knjige Stihom kroz život (2010.)

Years to Order

from the book Through Life in Verse (2010)

Kao u stara dobra vremena,dok je još Bog hodao po zemlji.Sa Olimpa Eros dobrostivo veli:Zbor penzioneri, mladost se dijeli.Koliko tko godina sada želi?

Just as in the good old times, the days of yore,when the Lord still walked about upon the earth,from Olympus, Eros kindly had his say:"Pensioners, fall in! Youth's being given away!How many years does each one want today?"

Prva se javi baka Mara:"Ja jesam odavno, ali nisam stara.Molim te, Erose, trideset mi smanji,da prkosim svojoj priji Janji."

Granny Mara spoke up first, and bold:"I've been here for ages, but I'm not old!Please, dear Eros, take off thirty years from me,so I'll spite my in-law Janja — let her see!"

Na to će djeda od osamdeset:"Hajde, Erose, skini pedeset,da mogu opet u svome stanukao nekada obljubiti malu Anu."

Then an eighty-year-old grandpa gave a shout:"Come on, Eros, take off fifty! Strike them out,so that in my flat, as in my younger days,I'd make love to little Ana in the old ways!"

"Ova mi starost strašno smeta,"strogo će bivši direktor reći."Skidaj, Erose, trideset ljeta,sa sekretaricom svojom želim leći!"

"This old age of mine annoys me to the core,"the former director sternly said."Eros, strip off thirty summers, I implore,I want to take my secretary to bed!"

Onda se javi raspuštenica Kata,bivša radnica starog zanata.

Then spoke up the divorcée, Kata was her name,a former worker in the good old game.

"Mušterije moje više me ne šljive,za sve su ovo godine krive.Za trideset ljeta ja bih sve dala,da opet procvjetam k'o bijela lala."

"My customers don't give a fig, it's clear,and it's to blame on every single year.For thirty summers I'd give all I own,to bloom again, a tulip white, full-blown."

Tako se molba za molbom nižena kraju stari Kazanova stiže.

So plea on plea went stringing on its way,and last came Casanova, old and grey.

"Skini mi toliko mjesečevih mijenakoliko sam ljubio u životu žena.Tada bi, Erose, sve lijepe ženekao mladića opet ljubile mene."

"Take away as many changes of the moonas the women I have loved, by night and noon.Then, Eros, all the lovely ladies wouldbe kissing me again, as a young man should!"

Vidi Bog ljubavi o čemu se radi,da starcima malo patnju osladi,on pusti glazbu, a vino potečei ljubav se vodila čitavu veče.

The god of love saw what it was about,and to sweeten old folks' pain, he helped them out:he let the music play, the wine flow free,and all the evening, love was made with glee.

U to sa istoka zlatna zora sinei staračke snove u maglu raspline.

Then from the east the golden dawn shone through,and melted old folks' dreams to mist and dew.

Valpovo, 13. 10. 1997.

Valpovo, October 13, 1997

Translator's note. A humorous tale. A "prija" (here "in-law") is the mother of one's son- or daughter-in-law, a traditional rival; "the good old game" (literally "the old trade") hints at the oldest profession.