Poems by Radovan Pavlovski

Translations by Reginald de Bray

MY STAR 

Through time I carry
fertility and cares,
joy and glory.

And the fruit and the cross of my country
I bear them with me –
Here are my sufferings:

And under a stone and in the sky
and in my white bed
is the same threshing of grain all bloody.

And for me at the altar
they sing of Eternity.
I am the nuptials.
And all that is birth and creation
bears my sign.

And as the darkness ever grows and grows
My star
is ever brighter.




ELLIPSE II 

We are not of this world
and we will not remain here
Words will remain
to wander and howl like the winds
Distant love will come
to fetch her children
and all the stars
will be near to one another
All that we dreamed
will be true
     Freed from the atom
music instead of words
like an elegy
will sing in us of a time long past.




MESSAGE 

If I die
Carry me
On a bier of metaphors

Don’t ever lower me
From the shore of one sea
On to the shore of another sea
Let me rest
Let the distance weep

If I die
Do not close my eyes
Continue to love me
With your blind little offerings

If I die
Do not carry my dead body to the River
Bury me
In the very eyeball of the world.

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Radovan Pavlovski (born on 23rd November 1937) is a prominent and internationally acclaimed Macedonian poet, essayist, travelogue writer and academician. He studied law and literature at the University Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Skopje. He is a Member of the Macedonian Writers’ Association and the Writers’ Associations of Croatia and Serbia. He is also a member of the Macedonian P.E.N. Centre and a member of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
    He is the author of the following works: Drought, wedding and moving (poetry, 1961), Korabia (poetry, 1964), High noon (poetry, 1966) Boemia of Nature (1969), Through the crack of the sword (poetry, 1971), The sun the serpent knows nothing about (poetry, 1972), The feast (poetry, 1973), Grains (poetry, 1975), Lightnings (poetry, 1978), Guards (poetry, 1980), Plague (poetry, 1984), Unlocking the roads (travelogue, 1986), Keys (poetry, 1986), Marena (poetry, 1986), Selected works in three volumes (1986), Foundation (poetry, 1988), Grains, Lightnings and Keys (trilogy, 1989), The God of the morning (poetry, 1991), What can poetry do? (essays, 1993), The children of the Universe (poetry for children, 1993), Democratic jungle (political essays, 1994), Sound rider (poetry, 1995), The poet’s message to all poets in the World – Struga Poetry Evenings (1995), The Son of the Sun (poetry, 1999), Shield (poetry, 2001), With one eye (poetry, 2002), Eternity is Happening (2014). Author of the Manifestos: The Epic of Voting (co-author, 1960), Manifesto of the Poetic Republic of Zelezna Reka (1990).
    His awards include: "Miladinov brothers", "11th October", "Koco Racin", "Goceva povelba", "Aco Sopov" and "Knizeven zezol". Foreign awards include "Mladost", "Zlatna struna", "24 Disova prolet" and "Risto Ratkovic". The manuscript "The Feast" received an award for its high artistic merits (poetry, Croatia, 1972). 
    His poems have been translated and published in more than 50 languages and included in various anthologies of modern Macedonian, European and world poetry. A number of volumes of his poetry have been published in translation both in Macedonia and abroad: (in Serbian) – 10 books, published in Serbia (Belgrade, Novi Sad, Cacak, Krusevac), in Montenegro (Niksic), and in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Banja Luka); (in Albanian) – Djaloshi magje, Pristina, 1977; (in Slovenian) – Rdeci in crni petelin, Maribor, 1978; (in Turkish) – Gol ulkesi surkler, Istanbul, 1973; Canim avuklarda patcadi, Skopje, 1988; Dunyanin gozbebegine gomun beni, Istanbul, 1995; (in French) – Un autre oiseau dans autre temps, Lausanne, 1982; Le Cavalier du son suivi de le Fils du Soleil, Paris, 2002; (in English) – Free Song from Iron River, Canberra, 1983; Road to the Mountains, Canberra, 1985; (in Russian) – Put na goru, Moscow, 1995; (in Czech) – Zeleni host, Praha, 1969; (in Romanian) – Maya, Bucharest, 1981; (in Esperanto) – Castelo de la Rosso, Skopje, 1991; (in Swedish) – Ljuset som vaknar middagstid, Malmo, 1998; (in Bulgarian) – Ключ за зърне и мълнии, Sofia, 2002; Храм на Мълниите, Sofia, 2009.

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