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TANJA KRAGUJEVIC

TWO POEMS

LEAR

In Epidaurum

at the beginning of the play

Lear is just

crushed.

It is not before the end

that he traditionally

appears as a dead man.

In the National theatre it doesn¢t take

too long to find a replacement for him.

Along with the lengthened eyelashes

of some other life.

The management takes care of

his emergences on happy agoras.

The audience applauds

to the passed away tragedy.

He signs autographs.

He throws his shirt

to the elated crowd.

He withdraws in his triumph.

And in the very last moments

of an fading era

he stops at the newsstand to buy

a sports betting ticket.

The morning finds him

in a massage salon. He washes

his face with volcano stones.

Not-yet-recycled and still

utilizable grains

of what was burned through.

Relaxed, he is gazing

into the solarium sky.

That bijouterie of blindness.

HAPPINESS

I have seen

a happy world. Falling

to pieces.

Like young people do. .

Instantly.

On their Hondas.

Stuck at a curve.

Under the helmet of foolishness.

I have seen the miserable.

They have been humble.

Quiet and shrewd.

Finally all they wanted was

to die. Although it was not

always possible. Nor easy at all.

As it happens,

happiness means a distance.

In an old opticians shop. Where

the owner from time to time

puts off his curious ocular.

But then, in spite of everything,

that happy moment bursts into.

And it whizzes by. So common.

Just like my neighbor¢s apron

spread on the wind.

Out of which children never

cease to keep on swarming.

One can clearly see

the milk boiled over

all these deserving years.

Signed into elementary school.

Just a moment ago.

Resembling the clouds.

Or their first certificate.

And the ID of an angle.

With the mustache added

by their mischievousness

to the angel¢s face.

And not wasting a moment,

They passed the image

Via their cells to no one else –

But the Maker himself.

Tanja Kragujević

Translated from Serbian into English by Marija Knežević