On the occasion of the attack on his native Kozarac on May 24, 1992
Today I am only a man of flesh and blood
And I will let out a cry from my soul.
I will let my eyes bathe
In a sea of tears with different names
Pain, disappointment, hope, waiting, misery,
The day we got old overnight
And we were never the same again
I can’t be silent today.
I must not let oblivion rejoice,
To once again win the race against time
I can’t be strong today.
Today I am just a man.
Today even a stone would cry.
Only if I could.
If only we could
The white tombstones would speak.
Stories about unfinished human lives
About my murdered cousins, about my relatives,
About my neighbors from Omladinska,
About the murdered Kozarci residents
About the murdered Prijedor babies
About the tombs in Tomašica and Kevljani
About Srebrenica and Potočari
About Sarajevo’s fallen roses, about Ahmići
About the Tuzla gate, about Markale
About Bosnians and Herzegovinians
They would talk about mothers who almost
After thirty years
They are looking for the bones of their sons
And may they forgive me.
Whose names I didn’t mention
And there are them all over our country.
blood-soaked
They would talk, talk.
And they would never get tired.
But dead mouths don’t speak.
Only if they could, they would talk about their children
Who were left without fathers
About the grandchildren they never met
About unfulfilled loves,
About unlived childhoods and youths
We would talk, talk…..
What it was like to look death in the eye
But dead mouths don’t speak.
And we who are left alive
They would talk about the days of our childhood
About red hashlams, about poppies, about blooming roses
About children’s games interrupted
Not even now, after so many years
Our Mayans never
and it will not restore its former glory
The memory of that fateful date will remain
What remained was the pain of his native land, which had become a ruin overnight
The pride of the smallest largest city in the world remains
Who became stronger from pain, who rose from the ashes
And that’s why I have to speak today
Because silence will kill us
And those letters over there
carved on white stone
To remind forever
Time is running out.
And time has stopped forever for us
Some new children are being born.
And time did not conquer oblivion
And don’t be comforted by those who say that time moves on
As if nothing had happened.
Time offers seeming relief
And in solitude, pain will overtake you.
Without your loved ones, you can’t get used to it.
The valleys of white tombstones are silent.
The lilies sleep there.
Above the valleys of the White Sea
birds fly freely
and silences have never been louder
they eternally warn us.
And so, I will not allow tears
To be behind bars
Nor will I let words
To languish in chains
To suffocate in untold stories
In high, untouchable dams
On behalf of the white sleepers
Let the word fly.
Maybe it will reach someone.
