Ivan Benak

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

Protestne i društvene

Uredniče Info Valpovštine

Protest and society

To the Editor of INFO Valpovštine

Dvadeset i šestog svibnjasedamdeseti broj INFA.

On the twenty-sixth of MayINFO's seventieth came our way.

Pjesmu mi je objavioi potpuno uništio.

It printed a poem of mine,and it wrecked it, line by line.

Ja Vas pitam Uredniče,što se moje pjesme tiče.

Editor, I ask you, pray,as concerns my poem, say:

Što ste s time Vi dobili,da ste pjesmu uništili.

What was it you gained thereby,wrecking my poem? Tell me why!

Za nečasnu tu rabotu,to je Vama na sramotu.

For a deed so low and baseyou have earned yourself disgrace.

Niste mene povrijedili,već svoj INFO ponizili.

It's not me you've brought to shame,but your INFO's own good name.

Ja ću dalje stih pisatii ljepotu puku dati.

I'll keep writing verses, then,bringing beauty to my fellow men.

Valpovo, 27. 05. 2011.

Valpovo, May 27, 2011

Translator's note. A verse complaint to the editor of the local paper INFO Valpovštine, whose issue no. 70 (May 26, 2011) printed one of his poems in mangled form.