Happy Ab day, Aleš!

Today celebrates my poet friend. It’s a bit more than just a birthday. Abraham is coming on a visit.

I’m not in our country so we will have to celebrate another time but we yet had an excellent day this summer, in Koper on the coast, the fifth largest Slovenian city. Here is how it went:

Koper train station where we landed (by bus) and separated briefly because you had work to do.

I went past this outdoor car wash and found a variety of signs and messages. Let’s see.

The bottom window says “Look!” so I did.

I had some dreams there were flowers in the water.

Past Port Koper which is the biggest Slovenian port. The ship has a message: BE WARE OF PROPELLER.

Another message: Love life and sip from the heart.

Crvena zvezda is a long-standing Belgrade sports club. It means “Red star”. Replaceable with heart at will.

This is either a signature or a local variant of the word for snow. It melts nowhere near.

“Police everyone, freedom nowhere.” The wall always knows.

This is self-explanatory. So when you were done, we went.

Past this water feature.

We could pretend we were in Civitavecchia. If we wanted. We didn’t.

Could be some old Tuscan town. They don’t have Polzela socks there though.

Abundance Centre with a fountain reflection. An important message in the last note: “You already have everything you need. Welcome!”

This is very much like a naughty bear in hiding.

You said you’d seen just the place for our lunch. It took a bit of a search but we managed, suitcase and all.

It was worth it. This was a look left from my plate. They had asparagus with eggs, prosciutto and bio cheese.

But we had brodet with polenta, which is fish stew. Yumm. (Phone photo. I know, terrible. As if I don’t take enough with my camera.)

The view to the right. You tried out this barber shop. Cat alert.

Back towards the station. “Blood is a colour”, a wise hand has added to this camera alert.

And for the end, an old song from some other times by the Serbian singer/songwriter. He is from Novi Sad which got hit by NATO in their 1999 Serbia bombing. When he performed in Slovenian second city Maribor on the raft upon the Drava river, he said: “Don’t let NATO see your bridges.”

In this song he seems to be speaking to his wife before bedtime. I urge you to just listen, have another one when you can again, and never stop counting stars.

Happy birthday, tanti auguri, bon anniversaire, la mulți ani, cреќен роденден and vse najboljše, Aleš!

Đorđe Balašević: Za treću smenu / For the third shift

Vidiš li gde sam to sad             Do you see where I am now,
u kom sam dobu                      in what year of age?
čudne mi ptice, da znaš,         There are weird birds, you know,
snovima jezde                          riding in my dreams,
jer još sam suviše mlad           for I am too young
da mislim o grobu                   to think of a grave
a već sam suviše star               and I am too old
da brojim zvezde                     to be counting stars.

Čuješ tišinu,                             Can you hear the silence,
taj zvuk,                                     this sound?
prolazi vreme                          This is time passing,
zuji i preti                                 whirring and rushing
kroz noć,                                   through the night
drhti ko kobra                          shivering like a cobra.
nemoj da načinješ sad            Don’t tackle now
ozbiljne teme                           a serious subject,
dođi, skupi se tu                      come over here instead
i budi dobra                             and be a good girl

Pa naspi još jednu                   and have another one
za večite krivce,                       for eternal culprits,
za balansere                             for balance-keepers
ne boj se,                                  – no worries,
imam ja priličan cug               I’ve got a mean gulp –
naspi još jednu                        have another one
za umorne livce,                     for tired foundry workers,
za proletere                             for the working class,
večeras treća smena vraća    tonight the third shift is paying off
tuđi dug.                                  somebody else’s debt.

Skoro će svanuti dan,            Soon the day will break,
još jedan praznik                   another holiday,
svi su ti plavi ko san              all are blue as a dream,
svi su ti isti                             all are the same,
budiš se retko u šest,            you rarely wake up at six,
samo po kazni                      only as a penalty,
kad moraš negde na put      when you’re off on a trip
ili na ispit                               or to an exam.

Ponekad tragam i ja              Sometimes I too set out
za zlatnim runom                 to get the Golden Fleece,
možda ću sanjati dim,          perhaps I shall dream of the smoke
vatru i čelik                            fire and steel.
nisi ti kriva za to,                  It’s not your fault
ma volim te puno                but I love you so much,
hajde sad, daj mi                  come here now and give me
pred san poljubac velik       one big kiss before sleep

Pa naspi još jednu              and have another one
za večite krivce,                  for eternal culprits,
za balansere                        for balance-keepers,
naspi još jednu                   have another one
za moje drugare                 for my friends,
naspi još jednu                   have another one
za umorne livce,                for tired foundry workers,
za proletere                        for the working class,
naspi još jednu                  have another one
za treću smenu.                 for the third shift.

Translated by MMM