That sister of yours…

A loose translation of a poem dedicated to Patriarch Pavle by the famous Serbian poet Matija Beckovic:

Is she still alive
that sister of yours,
Where you went every week
I ask Patriarch Pavle.
She died long ago,
But she wasn’t my sister,
But my sister from my aunt
And the aunt is my mother
Who raised me from the cradle
When she married again,
the one who gave me birth.

And now I think,
When I change worlds
That I will first see my aunt,
Whom I miss the most.
As for the others in the Heavenly Kingdom
There will be time
For us to see one another and talk,
From Abraham to Isaac,
To Lazarus the Four days dead,
My Krsna Slava.

I will see St. Sava too,
And the Czar of Kosovo
And the other holy ones from our people
Who defended the image of God.

I will see my mother as well,
If God grants, And if she recognizes me.

Matija Beckovic