{"id":103649,"date":"2024-06-28T17:23:32","date_gmt":"2024-06-28T15:23:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.acosopov.com\/reading-room\/poetry-shelf\/%d0%b4%d1%80%d0%b2%d0%be-%d0%bd%d0%b0-%d1%80%d0%b8%d0%b4%d0%be%d1%82\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T12:25:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T11:25:07","slug":"the-tree-on-the-hill","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.acosopov.com\/en\/reading-room\/poetry-shelf\/the-tree-on-the-hill\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tree on the Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\t\t\tThe Tree on the Hill\t<\/h1>\n\tFor a long, long time this tree has grown on an arid hill without water,
\nits branches spread wide like a bird absorbed in flight.
\nThe high sun from its hot, blazing dais dazzles it blind,
\nyet all the life juices of the world are surging inside it.\nThe rustling of its branches is heard in the summer,
\nand even in the winter, when it is snowing,
\nand the world both notices and takes no notice.\nWild gusts of wind besiege it, and dark ghosts, too,
\nthe hard, cracked soil turns its bright gaze dim,
\ndroughts like snake pits suck at its earth-bound roots,
\nbut still it is proudly green and grows, it grows and is green.\nMy love, I met you on this hill like a traveler who rises at dawn.
\nI gave you all that I could, but all of it was barrenness.
\nBeneath this tree we loved each other and grew older-drought to us was coolness-
\nand now we are leaving, but the tree endures and remains.\nMay God grant me one last wish
\nat this great parting of ways-
\nthat we find each other again and join as one with the core
\nof this tree that grows on an arid hill high into the air.\n\tAco \u0160opov<\/a>, The Tree on the Hill<\/a><\/i>, 1980
\nTranslated from the Macedonian by Christina E. Kramer and Rawley Grau,\u00a0The Long Coming of the Fire<\/em><\/a>, Dallas, Deep Vellum, 2023.\n\t

Listen to excerpts of the poem in Macedonian<\/p>\n\t\t