Poems by Branko Cvetkoski 

HOLY BUTTERFLY
 
Someone raised my hand
Holding it high amidst the cosmic silence.
 
I was carried away playing in prehistory
Not listening to my mother's screams
And warnings
I roll the sun down the hilltops
And I take-leave of earthly sounds
Flapping my new wings grown
By the breath of the hilltops
And I await the fall of future empires
Whose territories I jump over running
For laugh's sake
And
Lying in the wind
With a straw heart
I descend into the house of languages
And make a blessing:
May a new covenant be made with the nations
As You
Lord Almighty
Trembling
Are tempting me
To spread a new map
On my knackered wings
From which all future rainbows will drink.
 
And beauty shall resurrect
From my doom.

Translated from Macedonian by Vladimir Cvetkoski
​
 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL MASK
 
Under the ground
Dust specks dance
In endless palaces
 
In the sky
Long talks, thoughts,
convictions and yawns flow
 
Behind the masks
Hide cheeksless faces
Blowing fans and
Howling swelters
 
The cries of Empires –
Eras
And ethers
Have crumpled in time's eye
 
Through the wind's round song
The whirlwind calmly flows
Towards a new death
And I feel the darkness
Falling asleep next to me
And warming me with his thigh
And taking my imprint
For a new mask
In the new home!
 
And it hums:
You're the one who always wants to leave!

Translated from Macedonian by Vladimir Cvetkoski

Branko Cvetkoski (1954) – poet, literary critic and translator. He has authored twenty six books of poetry, criticism and non-fiction and has translated thirty titles by Slavic authors into Macedonian. His poetry has been translated in eighteen languages. He has won eighteen Macedonian and international literary awards, including the state award for achievements in culture and art. He is one of the founders of the Balkanika Literary Foundation, Makavej Publishing and the Knizhevno Zhitie Magazine. Branko Cvetkoski is a member of the Macedonian PEN Centre, Macedonian Writers’ Association, the Slavic Literary and Art Academy in Varna and an honorary member of the Bulgarian Writers' Union.

​​

---

---