Page:Anthology of Modern Slavonic Literature in Prose and Verse by Paul Selver.djvu/318

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294
LAZA KOSTIĆ

LAZA KOSTIĆ.

1. SYRMIA.

Beauteous Syrmia, thou my majestic,
Thou knowest naught of craggy immensities:
Thou dost not thrust thee in pride to the heavens,
Nor proffer thy love unto them,
Extending to them thy hands, naked, stone-wrought,
In vehement. ecstasy;
Thou smilest, thou only smilest.
When God created this earth,
This buxom damsel,
A creature whose heart is of fire,
Whose body is of stone and of water,
Upon thee, Frushka, he carved this comeliness,
Magical lips;
Thou smilest, thou only smilest.
This peerless smiling,
When for the first time heaven beheld it,
Downright I perceive how in enchantment
He opens his breast in its glory,
And showers upon thee rapturous blessing,
Lordliest lineage of his paradise,
Offspring of love, angel of passion,
Wine;
Downright I perceive, how he vaunts to thee his paradise,