From the collection Time of Sunflowers (2023)
A Flower
Cvijet
Last night the stars wove themselves into my sister’s hair.I knew it was her; I dreamed of the Trebišnjica.I watch from Leotar, and she, in all her stature,winds through the capital, for centuries..Clear and bright, dark green,like my sister’s eyes.Mine are distant and restless;quiet and wise, the eternities of my childhood.A relentless tear rises from the ashes;it hurts the more the more one dreams,with a tear the stone is kissed,and from it the loveliest flower breaks forth.
— Vera BasorTranslated from the Serbian.
Read the original Serbian
Sinoć su se uplele zvijezde u kose moje sestre.Znao sam da je to ona; sanjao sam Trebišnjicu.Gledam sa Leotara i ona sa svojim stasom,izvija se kroz prestonicu, vijekovima..Čista i bistra, tamnozelena,poput očiju moje sestre.Moje su, daleke i nemirne;tihe i mudre, vječnosti moga djetinjstva.Neumoljiva suza iz pepela biva;to jače boli što više se sniva,suzom se kamen cjeliva,najljepši cvijet iz njega izbiva.