Ne daj se Ines [English translation]

Don't give in, Ines

Don't give in, Ines

Don't let the years get you, my Ines

With different movements and habits

Because your room is still warm

Inviting interior and rare items

You had more taste than me

Your room - divinity - your employer is in the hospital

You always managed to differ

By the color of your letter paper, by your gifts

You followed me the next morning around nine to the station

And the green bus is tearing down

Driven by autumn wind, like a leaf

Along a downhill of Belgrade

I'm in my evening suit and

Surrounded by glances

Don't give in, my youth

Don't give in, Ines

Our acquaintance had been preparing for a long time

And then, by chance, with hot brandy, and with all that

A wish, poorly concealed with just a couple of sentences

Your way is ladylike but you're raised by a country woman

Rude provocateur and queen of mine

And then your breasts, the bed

And my room hung in the air like an orange,

Like an orange lamp

Above the green and blue water of Zagreb

In the Street of Proleterian Brigades 39, at Grković

A wet street further from the window and the buzzing of evening trams

Beautiful moments of nostalgia, love and poverty,

The using of a shared bathroom

And - please, if someone is asking for me...

Don't give in, Ines - here I am,

Standing up just to turn the record

Is it rude in a time like this?

Mozart, Requiem, Agnus Dei

I still prefer the beginning

I dispose with a million more of our naughty moments about our youth

That, right there in front of our eyes, deceive us, and rob us, and leave us

Don't give in, Ines

Rip up the invitation, cancel the dinner

Cheat on your husband just to brush your hair

At some better hotel

Touch me under the table with your knee,

My generation, my mistress

I know there will be more youths

But not one like this

Around 1938

I won't have anyone to stay young with

If everyone of you grows old

And that youth will be difficult for me

But in the end you must be right

Because I am on this shore

That you’ve left and given up half-heartedly

And it's starting to rain again

Like it always drizzles in November on the islands

Lead sea and sky of pine trees

Distant voices which are mixing:

A mothers voice, friends, daughters, mistress, ships, brothers

Rapidly picked up laundry before the rain

And the light disappeared with that whiteness

Some more walking by the sea and that’s it...

Don't give in, Ines