Rade Serbedzija - Cekaj me

~ Konstantin Simonov ~

 

Wait for me, and I will surely come
just wait for me long enough
wait for me even when yellow rains fill out the nights with sorrow
wait when there are terrible heats
and when blizzard strikes,
wait even when for others nobody waits anymore
wait even when the letters stop coming from far away
wait for me even when waiting gets boring
to anyone who waits,
Don’t listen when they tell you it’s time
to forget, and that your hopes are false, let son and mother believe that there aren’t any, anymore,
let all my friends get tired of waiting too and let them drink bitter wine by the fire,
wait and don’t sit with them, don’t drink anything… wait for me and I will surely come

All the deaths will not kill me, let those who haven’t waited have their word,
they were lucky!
Those who don’t know how to wait, they won’t understand
nor will the others know that you saved me my only one with your long waiting.
Only the two of us will know how I survived the hell fire,
Simply you know how to wait like nobody else in the world
simply you knew how to wait like nobody else in the world….

Rade Serbedzija - Ne daj se Ines

Don’t Give Up Ines

 

Don’t give up Ines
Don’t give in to years my Ines
to different moves and habits
Because your room is still warm
Cosy setup and rarities
You had better taste than me
Your room splendor
Your landlady in the hospital
You were always distinctive
by the colour of your letters, by the gifts
She walked me, the next morning around nine, to the station
And a green bus chased by autumn wind is going down
Like a leaf down a Belgrade slope
Wearing my evening suit I am surrounded by looks

Don’t give up my youth, don’t give up Ines
our acquaintance has been prepared for a long time
and then accidentally with hot rakija
and with just a few lines, a wish badly hidden
Your way is ladylike and your cheeks rustic
My bumpkin and my gentlewoman
Then your breasts, bed
And my room hanging in the air like orange
Like an orange lamp under green and blue water of Zagreb
in Proleterskih brigada 39. beside Grković
Wet street further from the window and evening trolleys buzzing
Beautiful moments of nostalgia, love and poverty
Using communal bathroom
and “Please if someone looks for me”
Do not give up Ines

Here I am getting up only to turn the record over
Is that rude at a moment like this
Mozart Requiem Agnus Dei
I still prefer the beginning
I have access to another one million of hers
and naughty data from our youth
That, right there in front of our eyes, deceives us, and robs us, and leaves us
Don’t give up Ines

Tear up the invitation, cancel the dinner, cheat on your husband
on your way for a hairdo in some better hotel
Touch me under the table with your knee
My generation, lover

I know that there will still be youths
But not another one like this one - on average 1938
I won’t have anyone to stay young with if all of you get old
And that youth will be difficult for me
But in the end you must be right
Because I am on this shore
that you’ve left and surrendered half-heartedly
And the rain is starting again
the way it rains in November in the islands
Lead sea and pine sky
Distant voices mixing
Voice of friend’s mother, daughter, lover, boat, brother
rapidly picked up clothes before the rain
And the light disappeared with the whiteness
A bit more of walking by the sea and that’s it

Do not give up Ines

Rade Serbedzija - Vec sam ti pricao to

I’ve Already Told You About That

 

Do you know, I also used to have a town, streets…
dear faces in the backyard… a table under chestnut tree…
long ago…
dusty picture and road made of dreams… little girls…
friend’s song… childhood fighting in soul…
imagine… smell of lime… and summer is here…
later snows…
I’m a lock of fog under neon light in winter…
I’m telling you… I used to have a friend like a brother to me…
now desert…
longing letters… Pacific of sorrow and memories…
they say destiny…
that bitch pain must have a name… and reasons…
million stories, but each of them going only to nothingness…
I’m asking if you know…
and I know that you don’t know nor will you ever understand…
and why would you…
forgive me, it’s a bitter liquid in me talking nonsense…
it’s not nostalgia…
that is a romantic, innocent baby, compared to this stuff…
I wont even mention war and horrors,
politics, and similar shits…
I wont repeat… there is no justice…
well at least that is clear…
I want to let a tear of love,
I’m a great match with it.
It’s too late, I know… the night is ending…
every one is a small infinity for me.
Yes, I know, you have to go,
oh how annoying it is when you lose the last buses…
I’m asking, …whether you know that I also used to have a town, streets…
dear faces in the backyard… a table under chestnut tree…
oh, I’ve already told you about that.

Rade Serbedzija - Zaboravi

Forget

If you meet me somewhere in foreign cities,
where I hang around lately,
Meet me,
As if you are meeting me for the first time.
Haven’t we already seen each other somewhere,
Say it… and forget it.

Forget the days when we used to… together,
And nights, forget….
The cities which names we used to change,
and which we drew on maps available only to us…
The shade under olives in our cove,
the cove of peaceful waters,
Our island and the name of poet ship
that used to carry us there…

Forget that you ever said you loved me,
and that we would never ever part.

We should forget the book titles
That we used to read together,
the movies that we watched,
Humphrey Bogart i Casablanca,
First of all forget

The street with horse chestnuts at the beginning of Tuskanac,
And that kiss in the rain
For which you used to say:
“I will never forget it”.
Please forget…

And when I tell you to forget,
I am telling you because I love you,
I am telling you that without bitterness,

Open your eyes, love,
Tanks have passed through our city,
They took away everything that we used to be,
know…, have…
Therefore… Forget.

What are memories for…?
Look at the cherry in your garden,
She blossoms afresh every Spring.
Smile to the morning that is coming,
Embrace the light of new days
and forget.

It’s too late already my dear, I mean,
we are grownups,
That is, we are no longer children,
And I know that it isn’t easy,

And I know that it maybe even hurts,… but try,
Please, … try …. forget!

If you meet me somewhere in foreign cities,
where I hang around lately,
Meet me, as if you are meeting me for the first time.
Haven’t we already seen each other somewhere,
Say it… and forget it.