Jeste

jeste: zavidim Persijancima na bajkama
i algoritmu, i Arapima zavidim na optici 

i brojevima, i Elamitima na grnčariji, i
Asircima na matematici i kalendaru, i 

Sumercima na zakonicima i spevovima, i
Vaviloncima na palatama i putevima, i 

Hetitima na mirovnom ugovoru, i
Egipćanima na piramidama, i 

Grcima zavidim na filozofiji
i dramama, i Rimljanima zavidim 

na pravu i akvaduktu, i Mehrgarhu
na ogrlicama i narukvicama, i Paštunima 

na kamenom alatu, i Indusima i Ciganima
zavidim na zagonetkama, i Kinezima na kompasu 

i papiru, i Srbima na naizmeničnoj struji zavidim,
i Špancima zavidim, jer su izumeli podmornicu
i naočare za vid, i Kirgizima na epu od petsto
hiljada stihova, zaista zavidim: ali kad Džozef Bajden 

pokazuje električnu stolicu i atomsku bombu,
kad to vidim – ja mu ne zavidim.

3.– 22.11.2023.

Yes, I do

yes: I do envy the Persians for their fairy tales
and algorithm, and the Arabs for their optics

and numbers, and the Elamites for their pottery, or
the Assyrians for the mathematics and the calendar, and 

the Sumerians for their laws and epic poems, and
the Babylonians for their palaces and roads, and

the Hittites for the peace treaty, and
the Egyptians for the pyramids, and

the Greeks I do envy for the philosophy
and the plays, and the Romans I envy

for the law and the aqueduct, and Mehrgarh
for the necklaces and bracelets, and Pashtuns

for their stone tools, and the Indians and the Gipsies
for their riddles, and the Chinese for the compass

and the paper, and the Serbs for alternating current I envy,
and I envy the Spaniards because they invented the submarine

and the eyeglasses, and the Kyrgyz for their epic poem of five hundred
thousand verses I really do envy: but when Joseph Biden

shows the electric chair or the atomic bomb,
when I see that – I do not envy him.

November 3-22, 2023

                                                  translated by Danijela Jovanovic