Go and catch a falling star,
Get with child a mandrake root,
Tell me where all past years are,
Or who cleft the devil's foot,
Teach me to hear mermaids singing,
Or to keep off envy's stinging,
And find
What wind
Serves to advance an honest mind.
If thou be'st born to strange sights,
Things invisible to see,
Ride ten thousand days and nights,
Till age snow white hairs on thee,
Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me,
All strange wonders that befell thee,
And swear,
No where
Lives a woman true and fair.
If thou find'st one, let me know,
Such a pilgrimage were sweet;
Yet do not, I would not go,
Though at next door we might meet,
Though she were true, when you met her,
And last, till you write your letter,
Yet she
Will be
False, ere I come, to two, or three.
Donne, John. Poems of John Donne. vol I.
E. K. Chambers, ed.
London: Lawrence & Bullen, 1896. 4-5.
Idi i uhvati zvezdu padalicu,
Zanesi na korenu mandragore,
Kaži mi sve minule godine
Ili ko rastavi Đavolje stopalo,
Uči me da slušam pevanje sirena,
Ili da se klonim uboda zavisti,
I otkrij
Vetar koji
Služi napretku časna uma.
Ako si odvučen čudnim prizorima
Stvari nevidljive da vidiš,
Jaši deset hiljada dana i noći,
Dok ti starost ne osneži kose,
Kad se vratiš kazaćeš mi
Sva neobična čuda što su ti se zbila,
I zakleti se
Nigde
Ne živi žena verna, a lepa.
Ako je nađeš, javi mi
Takvo hodočašće bi slatko bilo; -
Ipak ne, ne bih pošao,
Mada bismo se na susednim vratima mogli sresti;
Mada je verna bila kad si je sreo,
I još dok pišeš svoje pismo,
Ipak će
Biti
Neverna, pre no dođem, dvojici, ili trojici.
*Prepev Dušana Puvačića, u: "Džon Don, Predavanje o senci, "Glas", Banja Luka, 1981.
Autor: John Donne, 1572-1631