Toplice!

iz knjige Stihom kroz život (2010.)

The Spa!

from the book Through Life in Verse (2010)

Susreću se ovdje ljuditko zna sve od kuda?Pokraj ove tople Terme,tu u tome holu.Ovdje ih je sakupilaista sudba kruta.Svatko traži sebi pomoću svojemu bolu.Svi oni što voze kolica,u njima skrhano tijeloi oni koje vodei onima što pomaže štaka,svima je tijelo slabo,od bola satrveno,ali je duša mlada.Želja za zdravljemi životomsvima je tako jaka.I božicu Minervu molesa tisuću želja sada,ona jedina znade,koliko je ovdje jada.

People meet each other here,who knows from where they came?Close beside these warm Thermal Baths,here in this hall.Here they've all been brought togetherby one harsh fate, the same.Every one of them seeks helpfor his own pain, great or small.All of those who ride in wheelchairs,broken bodies in them,and those who must be led,and all those a crutch helps along,all of them weak in body,by pain worn down and ground,but young in soul they stay.The wish for healthand for lifein all of them is so strong.And to the goddess Minervawith a thousand wishes they pray;she alone can knowhow much sorrow is here today.

Valpovo, 1977.

Valpovo, 1977

Translator's note. Minerva, whose Roman statue was found at the ancient spa of Aquae Iasae, is the emblem of Varaždinske Toplice; the poem is probably set there.