Dobriša Cesarić: I got dressed. Approached the window. Outside: autumn

Today I wanted to share with you all a poem called “An Autumn Morning” by a Croatian poet Dobriša Cesarić (1902-1980). He is considered to be one of the finest Croatian twentieth century poets, but despite the quality of his poems there is a lack of quantity and it seems that there remained a lot of unexpressed words and tears in that poetic man. Poem “An Autumn Morning” is a simple one but I love the way the arrival of autumn is seen as something spectacular, something that makes your heart skip a beat and that takes your breath away; she is here – autumn. I cannot imagine her as anything other but a beautiful woman clad in crimson, orange and gold, her leaf-gown is rustling as she moves elegantly between the trees and over the forest glades and through the streets and parks of the city, her body lithe and her silhouette that of woman painted by Alphonse Mucha. The poem makes me wonder; what signifies the arrival of autumn? It is different every year, but there is always something, a smell in the air, the touch of the wind, something, that makes me feel: ahh, she is here.

Zagreb, Croatia in autumn, picture found here.

An Autumn Morning

I got dressed.

Approached the window.

Outside: autumn.

My friend came in. His coat was wet.

He made my whole room smell of rain.

Not even a “hello”.

He sat down.

Lost in thought

He said: “Autumn.”

That word was so fresh

Like an orange on a branch

After the rain.

(Translated by Pavle Ninković)