Le Printemps des Poètes : 4th day
On Tuesday 16 March, the 4th day of the "Spring of Poets", we share one of the favourite poems of the Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovi?.
THE DEEP BLUE RIVER
There is no-one who knows where this place is
We know only there is this place where
Behind the mountains, beyond the valleys
After seven or more than eight
Even worse and even harder
Tougher, steeper, even farther
Thru the hawthorns, thru the brambles
Thru the drought and thru the torture
Past suspicion, past hesitation
After nine or more than ten
Then still deeper and even stronger
Beyond the silence, beyond the darkness
Where there is no song of rooster
Where there is no sound of horn
And even worse, and even farther
Beyond the mind and God the Father
There exists a deep blue river
It is wide and it is deep.
A hundred years it is in width
And a thousand in its depth.
For its length you can’t imagine –
Gloom and darkness agonizing.
There exists a deep blue river
There exists a deep blue river.
We shall have to cross the river.
Mak DIZDAR (translation by Colleen B. London)