Ivan Benak

pučki pjesnik · folk poet  ·  Sopje 1933. – Valpovo 2015.Sopje 1933 – Valpovo 2015

Vječna si mi želja bila,od djetinjstva sve do sada.Oj, djevojko, moja mila,hoću li te imat' kada?

You've been all I've wished for, dear,since my childhood, to this day;oh, my darling girl, now hear:will you ever come my way?

Nešto ću ti, mala, reći,otvoreno nema stida.Sa tobom sam htio leći,sad se bojim, vlada sida.

Something, lass, I'll tell you true,openly, with no charades:I have longed to lie with you;now I fear the reign of AIDS.

Dok u ono doba đačko,dao bih ti svoga vida.Gdje si do sad bila mačko?Sada neću, kad je sida.

Back in school, when I was smitten,you'd have had my eyes, as love persuades.Where've you been till now, my kitten?Now I won't, for now there's AIDS.

Za grudima tvojim, draga,meni želja srce kida.Ti sad hoćeš, al' ja neću,jer u svijetu vlada sida.

For your bosom, oh my darling,longing tears my heart and never fades.Now you'd like to, but I won't,for the world is ruled by AIDS.

I na kraju ostale susamo puste želje moje,jer zbog ove strašne side,ne uživah tijelo tvoje.

So, when all is said, what's leftis my empty longing, dear;all because of dreadful AIDS,I've not held your body near.

Valpovo, 14. 06. 1987.

Valpovo, June 14, 1987

Translator's note. Sida is the Croatian word for AIDS; the poem dates from 1987.