Pored Rijeke Brke (By the Brka River)

By

Pored Rijeke Brke
.
Kada prodješ kraj pijace
i kada osjetiš onaj miris
svježih banana pomješan sa
mirisom domaćeg paradajza
i tek ubranih narandži,
pomisli na mene i kako smo
zajedno prolazili tim putem
da umanjimo, makar malo,
zadah koji dolazi iz rijeke;
da zaboravimo, samo nakratko,
na ratište koje nas čeka preko
mosta; da udahnemo, bar na tren,
vazduh ove zemlje i osjetimo
kako nam sok iz narandže
kvasi ruke dok je gulimo.
.
.
By the Brka River
.
When you walk by the market,
and when you notice that smell
of fresh bananas mixed
with home-grown tomatoes
and newly picked oranges,
think of me, and how we
used to walk that way together
to, at least a little, cover the rank
smell coming from the river;
to forget, just for a while,
about the battlefield waiting
for us across the bridge;
to, just for a moment,
inhale the air of this earth
and feel how the juice
from the orange wets our hands
as we press our fingers
into the skin.

Milica Mijatović