Thriving continent

Pray, can we wish upon all nations

Peace, as in Prešeren’s hymn A Toast?

Are we a source of just relations,

Is it love and truth that guide us most?

 

Have we been blinded by money’s sheen,

Is the path ahead paved with deceit?

We’ve ignored when friends step out of line,

For a cozy life, fictive but sweet?

 

Are darkness, difference our source of fear?

Are we slave to rumors whispered low?

Do we give a smug guffaw and sneer

To the rightless, hopeless, plagued by woe?

 

Did Srečko see what was yet to come,

It foretold in his Exstatic verse?

Has Europe misplaced the rule of thumb,

Does the reaper now our ranks traverse?

 

I believe that Europe’s children will

Sprout and blossom into giants yet,

That our mother’s soul will triumph still,

That our loyalty will bonds beget.

 

I believe in us, in warmth and grace,

With which we bridge the world’s divide,

In a thriving continental space

That unites diversity in stride.

--------------------------------------------------------

CVETOČA CELINA

 

Smo zmožni želeti vsem narodom mir,

privoščimo blagor, kakor v Zdravljici

je pisal Prešeren? Smo strpnosti vir,

znamo slediti ljubezni, resnici?

 

Nas je denar s svojim bliščem zavedel,

je pot do uspeha polna prevar?

Smo zatisnili oči, ko je bližnji zabredel,

za ugledno življenje v svetu utvar?

 

Nas drugačnost plaši, se teme bojimo?

Smo podlegli šepetu zlih govoric?

Se privoščljivo zahrbtno smejimo

ljudem brez moči, upov, pravic?

 

Je morda Kosovel videl v prihodnost,

jo je napovedal v svoji Ekstazi?

Je človek evropski izgubil razsodnost,

se starka s koso med nami plazi? 

 

Jaz nam zaupam, da bomo vzklili,

mi - otroci Evrope - v velike ljudi,

da bomo materin duh ohranili,

čutili pripadnost, krepili vezi.

 

Verjamem v nas, v našo toplino,

s katero gradimo mostove v svet,

vso v cvetju predstavljam si našo celino,

ko skuša različnost v enotnost ujet.