Ivana Belamaric – Ballad from the Suburbs

Ivana Belamaric – Executive Director Gomba & Emba Programs. IE Business School.

Reading:

Ballad from the Suburbs (Balada iz predgrađa) by Dobriša Cesarić (1902 – 1980).

And a kerosene lamp burns on the corner
A reddish-yellow light
On the thick mud by the old fence
And two, three bricks on the road.

And always the same poor people enter
Into its light from the darkness,
And with a face on which are usual worries
They cross it in a few steps.

And one evening, someone is missing,
And he should have passed by;
And the lamp is burning,
And burning in the fog,
And it’s already night.

And he’s not there tomorrow, nor the day after,
And they say he lies sick,
And he’s gone for a month, and for two,
And it’s already winter,
And it’s snowing.

And they pass like people’s passing fancies
And May already smells –
And he is gone, and gone, and gone,
And he is gone forever.

And a kerosene lamp on the corner
Sheds a reddish-yellow light
On the thick mud by the old fence
And two, three bricks on the road.

—

I lije na uglu petrolejska lampa
Svjetlost crvenkastožutu
Na debelo blato kraj staroga plota
I dvije, tri cigle na putu.

I uvijek ista sirotinja uđe
U njezinu svjetlost iz mraka,
I s licem na kojem su obično brige
Pređe je u par koraka.

A jedne večeri nekoga nema,
A moro bi proć;
I lampa gori,
I gori u magli,
I već je noć.

I nema ga sutra, ni preksutra ne,
I vele da bolestan leži,
I nema ga mjesec, i nema ga dva,
I zima je već,
I sniježi.

A prolaze kao i dosada ljudi
I maj već miriše
A njega nema, i nema, i nema,
I nema ga više.

I lije na uglu petrolejska lampa
Svjetlost crvenkastožutu
Na debelo blato kraj staroga plota
I dvije, tri cigle na putu.