IN A DARK HOUR
by: Jovan Hristić
(translated by Chrales Simic)


In a dark hour (there are more and more of them now),
He sits alone afraid to turn on the lights within reach of his hand
In a room that the darkness is slowly filling,
Like some that till then had lingered in the gardens
Where they burn the newly fallen leaves waiting for the first frost.

In a moment now steps will be heard.
Some god is coming to close the door
To one more room in his life
He will never again enter.

He waits for the sound of steps to cease.
The he rises, turns on the light
And stands motionless in the middle of the room,
The last one that remains to him, full of books and papers,
And knows that nothing of what he desired will happen,
Now that what he feared most is already happening.