Путник је срео у првом сутону на морској обали младу и црну жену, која према звезди, што у тај мах блисну на западу, узе своје две голе црне и тешке дојке у руке и поче говорити молитву, држећи непомично очи на планети.
То је била молитва Зохри, која је богиња с тако исто црним и тешким дојкама. Зохра свако вече шаље своју звезду да прими за њу молитву свих жена у пустињи чије тело жуди човека.
Сутрадан у сутон, на тој истој обали, лежала је она у наручју тога путника странца. Али, несрећница, није поздравила, држећи своје дојке у рукама, излазак Звезде, јер су јој очи биле помрчале од његових пољубаца.
Тако је странац био одвојио жену од њеног божанства. Зато му је жена дала неко грожђе од кога је морао умрети пре него увређена Звезда зађе у пустињи. Јер је Зохра свирепа и не би јој више на обалу слала свако вече другог човека.
Zohra
At dusk a wayfarer met a young, dark woman on the sea-shore. Facing the star that flared in the west that moment, she took her two bare, black and heavy breasts in her hands and started to speak a prayer while keeping her eyes, fixed and unmoving, on the planet.
It was a prayer to Zohra, a goddess with breasts black and heavy as hers. Every evening Zohra sends Her star to receive the prayers of all women in the desert whose bodies hunger for a man.
The next day at dusk on that same shore she lay in the foreign traveler's arms. But she, poor hapless thing, did not greet the Star's rising with breasts held in her hands, for her eyes had been darkened by his kisses.
Thus the stranger had sundered the woman from her divinity. So she gave him grapes he had to die from, before the affronted Star set over the desert, because Zohra is cruel, and would otherwise no longer send another man to her shore every evening.
From Prose Poems "Blue Legends", Belgrade 1908.
Jovan Dučić (1871-1943) was a Serbian poet, essayist, and diplomat whose polished works introduced South Slavic lyric verse to Symbolist sensibility. Born in Trebinje, he taught school before entering the foreign service, serving in cities such as Geneva, Rome, Madrid, and Cairo. His collections of poetry and the reflective prose "Blago cara Radovana" blend classical form with sensual imagery, patriotism, and metaphysical longing. During WWII he lived in the United States and died in Gary, Indiana. Revered for elegant diction and cosmopolitan poise, he remains a touchstone of Serbian modernism and is considered one of the greatest poets in the language.
A. Z. Foreman is a linguist, poet, short story author and/or translator pursuing a doctorate at the Ohio State University. His work has been featured in the Threepenny Review, Rattle, ANMLY, Poet Lore and elsewhere including two people's tattoos but not yet the Starfleet Academy Quarterly or Tattooine Monthly. He writes from the edge of thought between sleep and waking. He wants to pet your dog. He is grateful to Merjem Hodzic for her proofreading of his Bosnian passages for this piece.
