VESNA PARUN

Born 1922, died 2010

Born in Zlarin, Dalmatia. Lives in Zagreb. Her books of poetry are:

ZORE I VIHORI [Daybreaks and Gales] 1947, PJESME [Poems] 1948, CRNA MASLINA [The Black Olive Tree] 1955, VIDRAMA VJERNA [Faithful to the Otters] 1957, ROPSTVO [Slavery] 1957, PUSTI DA OTPOČINEM [Let Me Rest] 1958, KORAL VRACEN MORU [The Coral Given Back to the Sea] 1959, TI I NIKAD [You and Never] 1959, BILA SAM DJECAK [I Was a Boy] 1962, JAO JUTRO [Alas! Morning] 1963, KONJANIK [The Horseman] 1964, VJETAR TRAKIJE [The Wind of Thrace] 1964, GONG 1966, OTVORENA VRATA [The Open Door] 1968, UKLETI DAŽD [Accursed Rain] 1969, I PROLAZIM ŽIVOTOM [And I Pass Along Through Life] 1972, STID ME JE UMRIJETI [I Am Ashamed to Die] 1974, LJUBAV BIJELA KOST [The Love, a White Bone] 1977.

NIKAD	NEVER
Ne znam gdje počinje praznina mora. Ali slutim što je taknuo u tebi i u meni glas koji je blizu negdje rekao: nikad.	I do not know where the emptiness of the sea begins. But I guess I know the point in me and you touched by the voice which somewhere nearly said: never.
To je rijeka koja se više ne vrata u svoj izvor jer su joj obale dogovorene s nekim nepoznatim koji čeka u daljini.	There is a river which does not return anymore to its source because its banks have an arrangement with an unknown somebody who is waiting far away.
To je cvijet koji ne silazi više u svoj korijen jer se ondje naselila budućnost.	There is a flower which does not descend anymore to its root because there the future is settled.
Nikad. Šumna trava neizgaženih visoravni, snijeg na planinama ljubičastim.	Never. The noisy grass of the plateaus trampled by nobody, the snow on the mountains of violet color.
Osvrni se za sobom i gledaj svoje Nikad u travi sluha i vida naraslo u sjeni ruku sustalih, u sjaj, u želje neugasle.	Turn back and look at your Never, grown up in the grass of hearing and sight, in the shadow of tied hands, in the glow of unquenchable desire.
Obazri se, prepoznaj svoje Nikad po iščezlim nizinama prostrto, I teška misao koju si zanjihao postat će blaga, jer je kraj nje čovjek nerazumljiv u svojoj samoći.	Turn around, recognize your Never spread across the vanished plains. And the grave thought that you have now set in full swing will become gentle because near it stands the man incomprehensible in his solitude.
A kad se on pomakne u Noć i u veliki uspavani prostor, ispružit ćeš za njim svoje ruke i viknuti: ne odlazi!	And when he moves away into the Night and into the immense space immersed in sleep you will extend your hands after him and cry out: don't go away!

ZA SVE SU KRIVA DJETINJSTVA NAŠA	THE FAULT LIES IN OUR CHILDHOOD
Izrasli smo sami kao biljke. I sada smo postali istraživači zapuštenih predjela mašte nenavikli na poslušnost zlu.	We grew up alone like plants. And now we have become explorers of fantasy's desolate regions, not yet tractable to the world's evil.
Iznikli smo pokraj drumova i s nama zajedno rastao je strah naš od divljih kopita koja će nas pregaziti i od kamen medjašnih koji će razdvojiti našu mladost.	We sprang up along the highways and together with us grew our fear of the wild hooves which will trample us and of the marker stone which will set bounds on our youth.
Nitko od nas nema dvije cijele ruke. Dva netaknuta oka. I srce u kojem se nije zaustavio jauk.	Not one of us has whole hands. or two intact eyes. Nor a heart which has not stifled a moan.
Svijet je u nas ulazio neskladno i ranjavao je naša čela zveketom svojih ubojitih istina i bukom zvijezda zakašnjelih.	The world has entered into us discordantly and has pounded our foreheads with the clangor of its murderous truths and with the din of the belated stars.
Starimo. A bajke idu uz nas kao stado za ognjem a daljini. I pjesme su nam takove kao i mi oteščale i tužne.	We grow old. And the tales accompany us like a flock moving toward a bonfire in the distance. And our poems, like ourselves, are grave and sad.