RAZGOVOR STARCA MILOVANA S NARODOM
UOČI PROSLAVE NJEGOVE GODIŠNJICE
IVAN MEŠTROVIĆ
- - - -
Journal of Croatian Studies, XXIV,
1983, – Annual Review of the Croatian Academy of America, Inc. New York, N.Y.,
Electronic edition by Studia Croatica, by permission. All rights
reserved by the Croatian Academy of America.
- - -
-
— Narode moj, gdje si, i kako mi živiš?
— Na istoj vjetrometini kao u tvoje doba, na putu o koji se demoni zemskih
sila bore.
— Što radi narod moj i čim se zanima?
— Na putu stoji sa krvavim njedrim zakrčujuć prolaz preko njive
svoje.
— Što hoteš nejak, bogalju moj
dragi?
— Zemlju pod sobom i sebe na
njojzi,
Život hoču i u njem slobodu!
— A što su tvoje najmilije žudnje?
— Ljestvice duši od zemlje do
neba.
Kroz nebeske lukove da sagledam Boga,
I molitvu svoju Njemu da prikažem: —
Mir mi udijeli i pravicu Tvoju,
Kako u nebesim, kraljuj i na zemlji.
— A što pred sobom nazire ti oko?
— Mrak vidim, gdje u sebi tone,
Rumen zoru vidim nastajućeg dana,
Koji će mi oprat rane i sramotu.
— Što nauči, sinko, u nevolji svojoj?
— Doživljaje zarezah na putničkom štapu,
Da ih o svitanju zbrojim, prije nove staze.
— A sad, kako si mi ti i tvoja zemlja?
CONVERSATION OF OLD MAN MILOVAN
WITH THE PEOPLE[1]—ON THE EVE
OF HIS ANNIVERSARY[2]
IVAN MEŠTROVIĆ
TRANSLATED BY ANTUN NIZETEO AND
MARVIN TATUM
—My people, where are you and how
do you live?
—Here we are on the same
wind-swept place as in your days, on the same road for which the world's
demonic powers fight.
—What is happening now to my
people, and on what are you engaged?
—Your people stand on the road,
blocking the way to the fields with bloodied breasts.
—What, my poor dear cripple, do
you want?
—To own the earth under our feet,
To live our life in fredom!
—And what are your fondest dreams?
—For our soul, a small ladder from
the earth to heaven
To observe God through the
heavenly arches,
And to offer our prayer to him: —
Grant us peace, grant your
justice,
Reign on earth as you do in
heaven.
—And what does your eye see now?
—I see the red dawn of an emerging
day
That will cleanse my wound and my
shame.
—What have you learned in your
distress?
—My experiences I have carved on
my walking-stick,
So I can refer to them as I face
new roads.
—And how are you and your country
now?
— K'o pravedni Job sam, al bez
prijatelja,
A zemlja mi k'o Nioba cvili,
Čiji plač samo naša brda čuju.
— Razgovor bih htio čuti sa novih gusala,
Da iz njeg čujem i staro i novo.
— Vjekovi prolaze, starče, al stare ne prolaze muke.
Gusle su nove, al je tuga stara.
Jos uvijek je čovjek kurjak za čovjeka
Da ga ni sve ljudske podobe stid nije,
Tamnicam ga muči, samo drugčijim.
Ima ih tijesnih, memljivih i
mračnih,
K'o što one bjehu "privedrog
ti dužda".
Ima ih gdje ljude sa
čekićem smiču,
(da hi uštedili metak od olova),
Ima ih gdje plinom otrovnim ih guše,
(da znanost može triumfe da slavi),
Ima ih gdje se čovjek uz čovjeka duši,
(zbog uštede zraka i prostora)!
Ekonomizira, starče, u našem se vremenu,
Tek ljudski životi roba su jeftina.
On je medj živinam tek posebna
vrsta,
Kojoj ne treba slobode ni krsta.
— A zar je tako po čitavoj zemlji?
— Slobodom, znanjem i bogatstvom rozlične su zemlje,
U nekim se može huliti Gospoda i sva mu stvorenja,
Al smrt čeka onog ko vlast
drzne dirnut.
U drugima, opet, sve grditi možeš
do mile ti volje,
Tek u jednoj stvari svuda jednako
je:
Riječ Istina svuda zazorno se čuje.
Pokriti ju smiješ, al otkriti nikako.
I kip Pravde još posvuda drže, pa ma odjeveno različito bila,
Tek gustom koprenom oči joj
zavežu,
Mnogo bi ti pričat mogli o našem zemanu,
—Like Job the Righteous, without
any friends,
While my country moans like Niobe,
Whose lament only our mountains
hear.
—I would like to listen to the new
gusles,[3]
To hear from them the old stories
and the recent news.
—The centuries pass by, old man
But the old troubles do not pass.
The gusles are new, but the sorrow
is old.
Still man is wolf to man,
Not ashamed of being a human
Man tortures man in prisons which
today have endless variety.
Some are as narrow, damp, and dark
As were those of his most serene
majesty the Doge.[4]
In some prisons men are killed by
the hammer
(To save the lead bullet),
In some others men are gassed
(So that science and progress can
triumph).
In still others men are suffocated
(To save on air and space!)
In our time, old man, one
economizes in everything,
Except cheap human lives,
Man is merely one more species
among the creatures,
Needing neither liberty nor the
Cross.
—The countries vary with respect
to their freedom, knowledge, and
—Is this the way it is in the
entire world?
wealth,
In some one is free to curse the
Lord and all his creatures,
But death awaits those who oppose
the government.
In other countries you may scold
as you please,
Yet one thing is everywhere the
same:
The word Truth is everywhere
despised.
You may conceal it, but you must
not expose it.
Everywhere, too, the statue of
Justice is on dispaly, only varyingly dressed,
Yet they tightly veil her eyes;
We could tell you much more about
our times,
U kom laž k'o "nova otkrovenja" daju.
Al' ne bi pristajalo u odsjek starinske ti mašte,
Ljepota i bogatstvo ove naše
bašte.
Naroda — ljudi — više nema, postoje samo "nacije",
Kojim upravljaju iz burze, boštva, nove civilizacije.
I u zemljam tvoga slovinskoga roda,
Potekoše rijeke mutne i krvave,
Bratskom krvlju, starče, k'o
u tvoje doba.
Uzroci: nečojstvo i novi
cekini,
Dragi "proleteru" ko i
kavaliru.
Al nek tvoja zato ne tuguje sjena,
Naša j' volja tvrdja nego što je stijena.
Tvoje pleme tu je, otporno i živo,
Trpi, al pjeva k'o što s'i ti pivo,
Nehajuć koliko junaka na mezevu pale,
Ne strepi, uz ognjište ne će prestat da se piva,
Jer svaki novi udes nov vidik otkriva,
Svaka nova suza novu pjesmu radja,
Što je muka veća, bit će meta sladja.
— Koliko vremena proteče otkad vas ostavih i kakvo vaše bješe
živovanje?
— Dva vijeka su, eto, otkad nas ostavi.
Vrijeme j' teklo turobno, oporo i teško —
Baš k'o i ono, što bje prije tebe.
Orači su orali i u brazdu sijali su sjeme,
Žena i zemlja radjahu sa bolom i nadom.
Nicalo je i šturo i jedro klasje iz obiju,
Smijeh se je miješao sa suzam i jadom.
Ali, znaj, starče, kraj sveg jada svoga,
Tvoj narod ne posumnja u se, ni u Boga.
Ognjište mu trava još nije prekrila,
Nit pjesma uz gusle kraj njega prestade,
Pjevati svoja veselja i jade.
Tvog lika sjenu uvijek uz njih vidi,
Gdje krupnim obrvam zaklanja si suzu,
Da je djeca ne vide, ne izgube nadu,
Da će jednom kraju biti i našemu jadu.
Devet, ne dva, prohujaše vijeka,
In which lies appear as "new
revelations."[5]
However, it would not fit with
your ancient fancy there,
The beauty and the wealth of our
garden here.
There are no more people—human
beings—there are only "nations",
Ruled by the stock exchange, deity
of the new civilization.
And in all the countries of your
Slavonic peoples,
Bloody turbid rivers have flowed,
Soaked with brotherly blood like
in your times, old man.
The cause: The inhumanity of the
new ducats,
As dear to the
"proletarian" as to the cavalier.
But do not be sad because of all
that:
Our will is stronger than the
stone.
Your people are still here tough
and alive,
They suffer, singing the same
songs you sang,
They don't care how many heroes
fell on the battlefield,
They don't fear that the singing
by the hearth will cease,
For any new fate bears a new
vision,
Any new tear bears a new song,
The greater the pain the sweeter
the goal.
—How long has it been since I left
you, and how do you spend your life?
—Two centuries have passed since
you left us.
Our times have been dismal, harsh,
and rough—
Just as they were before you left
us.
The ploughmen have ploughed and
sowed in their furrows,
The women and the earth have borne
with pain and hope.
From both sprang fruit, scant and
abundant,
Laughter mixed with tears and
pain.
But, you know, old man, despite
their troubles
Your people has never doubted in
itself or God.
The grass has not covered their
hearths,
Nor have the songs ceased from
their gusles,
Harping on my people's joys and
griefs.
The shadow of your image is the
song of the gusles,
You hiding the tears with your
eyebrows
From the children so they don't
lose hope
That one day our grief too will
have an end.
Nine, not two centuries, have
passed,
Što tvoj narod svoje bolje dane
čeka.
Teški mu dani prolaze polako,
Kanda su im noge slite od olova,
A mnoga nada krenu naopako.
Jedina j' pjesma što mu preostade,
Da s njome blaži svojih grudi jade.
Al u Boga ima dana i vremena,
Koji nose spasenje i tvojeg plemena.
Zato nam se, starče, tamo ne rastuži,
Što nam jošte žica vasioni tuži,
Da njezina pravda presporo koraca.
Al, znadeš, starče, kraj najtežih rana,
Naš jauk ne doprije do tudjinskih
strana.
Zaboravlja i prašta sve nevolje
roda,
Pred dolaskom tvoga skorašnjega
goda.
O tvom skromnom godu, u tvom malom rodu,
S najvećih nam gora, pa do
našeg mora,
Posestrime tvoje poletjet te vile,
I donijeti vijence, koje su ti svile.
One će na tvojem sjatiti se
grobu,
I zapjevat pjesmu dolazečem
dobu:
"Sići te novi divovi iz kršnih nam gora,
I zaplovit smjelo preko sviju mora,
K željenim obalam novijih otkrića,
I objavit opstojnost rodjenog si
bića.
Toga, rode, osvita žudnjega dana,
Ne će omest oluje sviju oceana.
Korablja te svladati i najvete vale,
I smjelo stići na svoje odredjene žale.
Kud nas sila nad silama na suradnju zove,
Pred kojom su nemoćne sve pakla osnove."
Pomladjena lica, tvoja će javit nam se sjena,
I prozborit ka nebu uzdignutih
zjena: —
"Veseo sam danas, o narode moj,
Nakon tol'ko jada što ćeš postat svoj.
Neka ti na ognjištu nikada ne ugasi plamen,
I neka ti Gospod svijetli u
vjekove, Amen."
Through which your people have
waited for better days.
Their harsh days are passing
slowly,
As if their feet were of lead,
And many hopes have gone wrong
throughout the way.
Only the song has been left to
them,
To soothe the grief in their
breasts.
But in God's store there are many
days, time enough
In which salvation will come to
our people, too.
Therefore, old man over there, do
not be sad
If our gusle-string grieves to
heaven
That its justice moves so slowly.
Yet, you know, old man, that
Foreign ears have never wanted to
listen to our troubles.
All our troubles are forgiven and
forgotten now
On the eve of your approaching
anniversary,
For on this occasion in the midst
of your people
From our highest mountains to our
seas
Our fairy nymphs will rise upon
the air
To fetch the wreaths that they
entwined for you.
They will gather together at your
grave
And sing their song to future
ages:
"New giants will come down from
our craggy mountains,
And boldly sail over all the seas,
Toward the longed-for shores of
their new discoveries
And will proclaim the existence of
our being.
This dawn of the longed-for day
No ocean's storm could thwart.
Our ark will overcome the highest
waves,
And bravely reach the destined
shores,
Where the power over all the
powers calls us to meet it,
And before it hell itself is
powerless."
Then, your rejuvenated shade
Will speak to us gazing toward the
heavens:—
"Today I am happy, my people,
That after so many hardships you
will become free
Let us keep on our hearths the
eternal flame,
May the Lord make his face to
shine upon you for ever, Amen."
[1] A reference
to Razgovor ugodni naroda slovinskoga (A Pleasant Conversation with the
Slavonic People) (Venice, 1756), by Andrija Kačić Miošić
(1704-1760). In his still popular poems, composed in the style of Croatian folk
songs, the author, who was a Franciscan monk, calls himself Starac Milovan (Old
Man Milovan).
Meštrović s poem
here translated was originally published in the anthology of Croatian emigré
poetry (1945-1955) Pod tudjim nebom [Under a Foreign Sky] compiled by Vinko
Nikolić (Buenos Aires, Knjižnica Hrvatske revije, 1957).
[2] On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of
Kačić Miošić s birth.
[3] Gusle: An old Croatian one-stringed folk fiddle used
to accompany the speaking of folk songs.
[4] An allusion to the Republic of Venice, which held a
part of Southern Croatia (Dalmatia).
[5] Here the author uses the Serbian term otkrovenje
instead of the Croatian word otkrite or otkrivenje, an allusion to the Belgrad
government's oppression of Croatia.