Milos Crnjanski - Prologue

I saw Troy, and I saw everything.

Sea, and the shores where lotus flowers ripen

And I returned, pale and alone.

On Ithaca I'd also like to be the one killing,

but since I mustn't,

I'd at least like to sing some new songs.


My house is full of drunkenness, and sin,

and life in this world is sad everywhere,

except at the optimist's!

I don't sing of sold rights,

nor do I flatter the lordly cows.

I sing to the sad ones: I tell them that sadness is freeing.


I'm not a patriotic discussion.

Nor do I care about the Poets' glory.

I won't look over Krleža, or Ćurčin,

or to be the pride of my nation.

My fate is old, 

it's only my poems that are a little fresh. 


But: either live brings us something new,

and our soul means to us a degree more,

to the sky that, high up there, starry, smells wonderful

or may we all, with our songs, and our Ithaca, and everything

go to hell.




Comments