Vasko Popa (1922 - 1991)

The Other World

My grandmother puts cupcakes
with lit candles on floating planks

Whispers to them messages
for the dead men and women of our blood
and sends them down the river Karas

The planks slide down the black water
the little candles struggle through the dusk
and disappear around the turn of the river

Grandmother announces
that they have happily reached
the other world

I have already been there once
to set traps for birds

I didn't know of course
it was my ancestors I was hunting
among the blossoming willows


Before the Game

Shut one eye then the other
peek into every corner of yourself
see that there are no nails no thieves
see that there are no cuckoo's eggs

Shut then the other eye
squat and jump
jump high high high
on top of yourself

Fall then with all your weight
fall for days on end deep deep deep
to the bottom of your abyss

Who doesn't break into pieces
who remains whole who gets up whole
plays


Wolf-Ancestry

Under the linden in Sands
my great grandfather
found two wolf-cubs

Sat them both
between a donkey's ears
and brought them to the farm

He fed them sheep's milk
and taught them to play
with lambs their own age

Then he took them back
to the same spot under the lindens
kissed them
and made the sign of the cross over them

Since earliest childhood
I've been waiting
for my years to equal
my great grandfather's

Just to ask him
which of those wolf-cubs
I was

translated from the Yugoslavian by Charles Simic