RAZGOVOR STARCA MILOVANA S NARODOM UOČI PROSLAVE NJEGOVE GODIŠNJICE

IVAN MEŠTROVIĆ

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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.

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— 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."

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[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.