A lovely poem by Maxima, translated from Croatian into English by Irina
Written: © Maxima
Croatian
Bakin spomenar
Kada mi baka uvečer priđe,
Pod miškom drži spomenar.
Tada sam sretan,
Jer dobro znam,
Da ide bajka,
Meni za dar.
A baka važno,
Započme priču.
U davna, davna vremena bijaše
Vještica strašna
Na metli jaše
Za njom tisuće vilenjaka,
I samo zjevaju da djecu plaše
Umračnoj sobi, mukla tišina.
Za oblak skri se mjesečina.
Može li bakice neka druga
Mene je strah a noć je duga
Baka se zamisli…
Onda zastade
Pa dobro,sinko,
Bit će neka druga
Sada mi spavaj,
Jer noć je duga
English
When Maxima approached me with a request to translate this poem, my first reaction was, No, I can’t do it, that’s too difficult. Then I thought, Well, I can at least try, and if I’m pleased with it, if I succeed in writing lines in English that create the same charm and the same flow as the original…
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Irina's Poetry Corner 
I just came from Maxima’s site and was happy to see this collaboration! Irina, you are multi-talented with knowing 2 languages (and maybe more than 2!). I enjoyed Maxima’s poem too!
I enjoyed translating Maxima’s poem. Yes, you’re right, Christy, I know more than 2 languages. I know French quite well but not as well as English; I taught French at TAFE until my retirement and performed for the French Theatre at Alliance Française for about 6 years. I have a smattering of Italian, German and Russian. Of these three, when I listen to the news, Italian is the easiest to understand. Actually, German was my first language, my nanny was German, and Mum read me stories in German, but when WWII broke out she refused to speak German, yet my first letter to Dad, a POW in Germany, was in German. When the war ended, I took German lessons again and read stories with my mum. Funny! Russian was taught at school after the war, and Dad was my teacher too, but today I only pick up a word here and there when listening to the news. I was just about to start learning Russian again when I got caught up in blogging! Oh, I can add Spanish to the list of “smattering of”.
Now you’ve had an earful! Just to explain how it is not unusual for Europeans to speak several languages.
Au revoir! Arrivederci! Auf Wiedersehen! Hasta la vista! Do svidaniya! (до свидания) and in English, See you later!
Cheers 🙂 Irina