Ermin Basic British-Bosnian Author

The poem is dedicated to all those killed in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the events took place in Mostar.

I

For Zano, killed among the first on the street;

for Pirket’s mother and father – for all acquaintances, friends, family, and all those systematically murdered on the streets in an act of ethnic cleansing aimed at eradicating them from towns and villages.

II

For Armin Merzić, Behram’s father, and Nožić’s mother –

for all the children, school friends, parents, and everyone else who were killed by grenades while playing or while in courtyards and on the streets.

III

For Amel Bašić –

for the warriors, their families, and all others who were killed by snipers.

IV

For those killed during the liberation of the Northern Camp –

for all in the units who charged fearlessly toward freedom, only to fall by bombs and bullets.

V

For SGB Šargan, in the defense of the southern part of Mostar –

for all who perished in the units that, with a significantly smaller number of people and equipment, bravely secured victories in many battles.

VI

For Stoša –

for all the brave athletes and for all those, of every faith, who perished on the lines of separation.

VII

For Nedim Šarić –

for all the fallen musicians, artists, and all those who died prematurely as a consequence of the war.

⸻

Conversation with the Living Souls Within Me

I

You walk proudly down the street,

while your youth fades in the pale moment of defeat and pain.

II

You sit in the garden, while dolls fly into the air,

and dreams drift in despair, as tears vanish in the dew of a somber morning.

III

You wander beneath the scope, innocently, as if in a concert of bullet sounds,

under a clear sky and red droplets of bitter rain.

IV

You run with doves of peace on your lips,

while the shrapnels carve marks upon your emaciated bodies and steal fragments of truth in the fire and in deep, furious, bloodstained water.

V

A restless group, against icy giants,

spred out an impenetrable curtain and halts the roaring lava.

VI

The final round of a game with spheres has been played at the crossroads of an abyss of lies.

VII

You survived the fall from a black universe with notes beneath your palm,

yet you got lost in dancing with the unreal ghosts of the past.

06.04.25

Flags of Bosnia and Herzegovina Trough Centuries