Poems by Rade Siljan 

A BLESSED HOUSE
 
In a blessed house
One enters silently
With a good thought
And with a cross on the forehead
 
In a blessed house
Under the shelter of silence
A celestial key-holder
Prays for love
 
In a blessed house
There is a forbidden room
On the bed of silk
A blessed woman sleeps
 
In a blessed house
The century silence
Hugs long
With the word wisdom
 
In a blessed house
With a candle in his hands
A fairy-tales dreamer
Takes a night walk
 
And the memories keeper
With promising thoughts
Opens the gates silently
Of the remembered time
 
Translated from Macedonian by Dragi Mihajlovski
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IF FATHER HAD BEEN ALIVE
 
If father had been alive
He would have celebrated each morning the birth of the day
And with tender words
He would have welcomed us in the old house
 
If father had been alive
He would have stroked our grey heads
And we would have sung songs about the beauty
And the rainy spring in our Fatherland
 
If father had been alive
He would have blessed the light every morning
In order not to have extinguished the fireplace
Of our famous ancestors
If father had been alive
Before the sunset
He would have hold in his hands beads
In order not to have forgotten the descendants
 
If father had been alive
He would have celebrated a hundredth year today
And we would have rejoiced
Our childhood memories
 
Translated from Macedonian by Dragi Mihajlovski
 
 
 

Rade Siljan (1950) – poet, essayist, literary critic, translator. He has authored twenty poetry books, as well as books of essays and literary criticism. Twenty six selections of his poetry have been published in over fifteen languages. He has compiled several anthologies of Macedonian poetry and criticism and monographs on the history of Macedonian literature. Rade Siljan is a recipient of the most important awards for poetry and criticism in Macedonia, including the state award for life’s work, as well as international poetry awards in other countries. He served as a president of the Macedonian Writers’ Association and is a member of the Macedonian Translators Association, the Macedonian PEN Centre and numerous respectable international associations. He is the founder and editor of the Matica Makedonska Publishing.


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