Once upon a time there was a story

Its end came
Before its beginning
And its beginning came
After its end

Its heroes entered it
After their death
And left it
Before their birth

Its heroes talked
About some earth about some heaven
They said all sorts of things

Only they didn’t say
What they themselves didn’t know
That they are only heroes in a story

In a story whose end comes
Before its beginning
And whose beginning comes
After its end

VASKO POPA
translated from the Serbo-Croat by Anne Pennington

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