Contemporary World Literature Poetry from Bosnia Herzegovina
By Selma Kopić
Selma Kopić is a Professor of Bosnian Language and Literature. Born in 1962 in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina, she is the author of two textbooks and one workbook for primary school. She worked as a coach, reviewer and proofreader.
Her stories and poems have been awarded and entered anthologies in Bosnia Herzegovina (BiH) and around the world. The most significant awards are: Third prize “Mak Dizdar” for unpublished collection of poems “Puzzle”, BiH, 2008; Golden Plaque, “Poetry of the Year 2020”, Balkan Poetry Union, BiH, 2021; First prize for the triptych of love poems in the competition “Poem above poems”, BiH 2021;First prize for the best foreign poem “I’m not ready to leave yet”, Italy, 2020. She has published two independent poetry books: ‘‘Sign’’, ‘‘The Monument of love’’ and a joint collection ‘‘Cosmic Rainbow’’ with five other authors. Third poetry book ‘‘Puzzle’’ will be published these days by ”Darwish”, publishing house from Bulgaria/ Germany.
Whispering leaves
There, in the shade of a leafy birch,
Tremors of our bodies
Spoke for themselves
The look in the eyes
Was enough to make time stand still for us!
Single touch made us forget about everyone else.
The leaves whispered as we hid in the shade.
That birch remembers every movement
Of our trembling bodies!
Its branches keep all our secrets.
We thought we would stand there together,
Forever!
And then, the leaves turned yellow and withered,
Just like our love.
But, we loved each other,
The birch is a silent witness.
I stop by sometimes,
In the spring,
When green is everything.
I can still hear the leaves whispering.
In my mind, we stand there…
And I tremble,
I tremble as if you were still there with me…
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