Mirko Kovac (born December 26, 1938 in Petrovici village near Bileca, Drina Banovina, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, now in Montenegro) is a Montenegrin and Croatian (formerly Serbian) writer. His works are mainly novels like Vrata od utrobe (which won him the NIN Prize in 1978), Gubilište and Kristalne rešetke. He lived in Belgrade but moved to Rovinj, Croatia, his wife's hometown, after Milošević came to power.
WINTER IDYLL
Translated by Francisa R. Jones
Winter idyll
snow in each yard
swilling death
with swigs of blood
our Serbian bard!
Night foul arrow sing
wolves prowl village below
winds yowl evening glow
dogs growl bell ring
to church they go bull thunder
the folk my foe sheep bleat
I fire my bow hound howl
winds out-howl cock crow
its whistle of woe times sunder
Christmas fast blood lapping
to church at last rattle of life
my bones to warm gelding knife
to deal out doom balls hacking
the pious massed pecker lacking
munching bread I left the brats
my knife I thrust churchbell choke
deep in their guts pious folk
the blade runs red flee for your life
knees go faint each little ass
curse their saint on a cushion of glass
bullets scourging as a warrior bard
their blessed Virgin sows Serbian seed
their Bosnian hearts when need be I knife
their coat of arms for the good of tomorrow
and God is Serbian o lyric of life!
Saint Sava my guide my hero is \ogo
watch by my side his verse sometimes shocks
two Catholic wenches he's unorthodox
on vestry benches but he's Orthodox!
Winter idyll
blest be this day
minefields charred
a scented bouquet
for our Serbian bard |
