Poem

Slađan Lipovec

Side by side

IV

in this town anxiety bounces
off the porous walls at night
streets wrap around the long gone
century holding your breath as you walk
you feel darkness just
crumbling under your feet like sand

                                                                    and who will tell
                                                                    the milky children
                                                                    what happened to the sky
                                                                    where Česmički watched
                                                                    the swarms of flies reading
                                                                    them like Latin verses?

Ivan Česmički - Janus Pannonius (1434 - 1472) was a mayor Croatian humanitarian poet. Born in northern Croatia, educated in Italy, he became Bishop of Pécs, Hungary in 1459. As member of the court of Hungarian King Matias Corvinus, he witnessed battles with the Turks. He took part in a conspiracy against the king, fled Hungary and died in Medvedgrad near Zagreb. He is buried in Pécs cathedral. Best known for his Latin poems (Elegiae, Poemete, Epigrammata) and for his translations of Homer\'s Iliad.

IV

u ovom se gradu tjeskoba
odbija od šupljikavih zidova noću
ulice se uvijaju u dugočasno prošlo
stoljeće osjeća se samo mrklina kako
se mrvi kao pijesak pod tvojim nogama
kada se suspregne dah u koraku

                                                                a tko će
                                                                mliječnoj djeci
                                                                objasniti kamo je nestalo
                                                                nebo na kojem Česmički je
                                                                gledao rojeve mušica čitajući
                                                                ih kao latinske stihove?