Vesna Cvjetićanin moved to Australia from Yugoslavia in 1990, and has recently found a great amount of expression and solace through poetry. Vesna is currently writing a book of poems exploring her migration, identity, personal and family history, as well as love, parenthood and the nature of life, called “15 Lines of Thoughts”.
This poem was written in Serbian, Vesna’s mother tongue. See the poem in both Serbian scripts (Latin and Cyrillic), as well as an English translation (kindly provided by Vesna herself), below.
RAVNODNEVNICA
Mart.
Preuranjena jesen
miriše na trsku i pacale,
а kasno leto
na ljubičasti ukus
prvog, tek zorućeg
muskata.
U meni se odranja
svest prolaznosti
u kojoj na čudan način
uživam,
zavaravajući se da će
uskoro proleće…
U glavi mi se zamutilo:
ovo je druga strana sveta.
РАВНОДНЕВНИЦА
Март.
Преурањена јесен
мирише на трску и пацале,
а касно лето
на љубичасти укус
првог, тек зорућег
муската.
У мени се одрања
свест пролазности
у којој на чудан начин
уживам,
заваравајући се да ће
ускоро пролеће…
У глави ми се замутило:
ово је друга страна света.
EQUINOX
March.
Premature autumn smells like
the long, smooth stem of a muddy reed,
and late summer
has the violet aroma of early,
just ripening Moscato.
While an awareness of transience
bulges in me,
I enjoy it strangely,
misconstruing
the season’s signs and
believing it will
soon be spring.
My head is spinning:
this is the other side of the world.
© Vesna Cvjetićanin, 2014
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