The Apocalyptic Spring
I
The war came with snow instead of blood
It met the sun adorned
With all the nuptial plummage
Stars cursed
As we trampled them.
The field spreads out obediently before us
Is this a wedding or a war?
A spring war
When none are fighting
A betrayal.
Am I the only warrior to die?
The field goes over me.
II
The shrubs attack from all points
Who knows where anyone is
Among the pieces.
A hundred throats laugh like animals
The earth shaped by three hundred skulls
Is driven wild as a barren woman
So seeded with warmth
She might conceive the sun,
We fight for his throne
What if she conceives a hostile dog?
Along with my devils I shall abandon them
The apocalyptic bull
Will break into our homes
And carry us on his blood-stained horns.
III
We had a double dream
One is us
The other our relics
Thrown up by the earth
The objects we could feel
Are expelled like whores
Our shadows go round us
Like open traps.
IV
The deserts whistle
The drums are trampled down
Wedding-guests or warriors have marched across
The bagpipes hardly breathe
One by one the whistlings die
The fairest one left
Is silence.
translated by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra. From Longing for the South, An Anthology of Contemporary Macedonian Poetry, edited by Sitakant Mahapatra and Jozo T. Boshkovski. Prachi Prakashan; New Delhi, India, 1981