ALBEDO #2 by David Nez

 



By Sarajevo there's a green garden,
In that garden there's a well of cold water,
By the well, a marble stone,
On that stone, an aged vase,
In the vase three flowers bloomed.
Were you to give me the three flowers from that garden,
A wallflower, a carnation, a red rose,
I'd not take the wallflower, nor the carnation, but the red rose.
Were you to give me three girls to kiss,
Ema, Fatima, and Hajrija,
I'd not take Ema, nor Fatima, but Hajrija!

 

Translated by Albert B. Lord, in Bela Bartok and Albert B. Lord, Serbo-Croatian Folk Songs (New York: Columbia University Press, 1951), 417.