ODE TO THE NERETVA

In the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mostar and its wider surroundings has been the center and the origin of literary life, the spot of birth or gathering of many writers. In the recent history, it suffices to remember the first decades of the 20th century and writers who were either born or worked in Mostar for a while: Aleksa Šantić, Svetozar Ćorović, Jovan Dučić, Osman Đikić, Osman Nuri Hadžić, Abdurezak Hifzi Bjelevac, Hamza Humo, Alija Nametak, Musa Ćazim Ćatić.

Certainly, one of fertile literary periods when Mostar residents intensively wrote in world languages, unfortunately rarely in Bosnian, was that between the 16th and the 18th century. According to some sources, during the Ottoman rule Mostar was home to about forty poets whose poetry is now mostly unrecognized and unknown, except for a small number of literary historians and researchers of literature in Oriental languages (Omerika). Beauties of Mostar, particularly fascination with the Old Bridge, have been inspiration for many poets of older generation who have made the city permanently present within Oriental literature.

One of the poets from this period wrote ode to the Neretva in Turkish, and it is appropriate to be reminded of it within the section Living waters, part of the research and educational exhibition project Under the Sky of Cheerful Faith, as another example of the attitude toward the blessing of water in the culture of Bosniaks.

In the Franciscan monastery in Mostar, as manuscript no. 107, Vančo Boškov Found poems by Rahmija Mostarac, who lived in Mostar at the turn of the 19th century. The poem about Mostar has 32 verses (bayts). Boškov called it a qasida and it consists of three parts, each with a separate title: l. Praise, ode to Mostar (14 verses – bayts), 2. Praise, ode to the Neretva (9 verses – bayts) and 3. Praise, ode to the bridge (9 verses - bayts). “These three separate wholes should be considered as a single poetic composition in the form of the qasida, both due to their identical meter and rhyme and due to the connected meaning of all the three parts” (Boškov, 214).

Ode to the Neretva, a completely new motif in the qasida, abound with similes, abbreviated poetic metaphors and symbols typical of Oriental literature. For example, the “water of life” or the “spring of life” is one of general places and cliched symbols in Oriental literature. Indeed, it is a firmly condensed symbol with multiple overlapping and fluid sematic field of the abstract and the factual, of the imaginary and the actual poetic expression of physical and spiritual realities. In one of its branches, the phrase “water of life” (ab-e hayat) refers to the actual significance of water for the emergence and development of life; however, as a symbol within the literary and mystical context and heritage of the East it indicates the permanent human desire and search for immortality, of the elixir of eternity which was pursued by many literary heroes of the ancient history. At the same time, the Sufi image of the world (of course, Sufis also search for the “water of life”) says that immortality is actually found in a kind of death, i.e. that if one wants to live something must die, or more accurately – animal features of human character must die. According to classical legends, this water is found in the darkness at the end of the inhabited world, and whoever drinks this water gains the eternal life. Furthermore, in Sufi interpretation we also find it as a metaphor for the source of love and particular knowledge, and whoever drinks from this source ensures eternity for himself. Some will say that the water of life is knowledge, and that the darkness in which it is found is human body. According to a legend, Khidr found the „water of life“ and tasted it. Although Rahmi could see the factual and actual forms of encouragement and flourishing of life in the water of the Neretva, the literary terminology tradition and the context in which the poem was written also associates to sematic fields which were established in earlier tradition and language.

Certainly, comparison to the Jannah river Kawthar, introduction of terms Luqman's potion, lovesick (ašik), love, sadness, tears of one in love to the comparison with the river Jaihun (Amu Darya, Oxus) in Central Asia also strongly connects the poem praising the Neretva, at least at the level of poetic images and terms, to the tradition of Islamic spiritual heritage and the actual geographic toponyms which had been shaped by this tradition in different ways. “The Neretva is restless as people in love who, distraught with love, do not know what peace is. The abundance of its water springs from the tears of one in love, whom the Neretva personifies, and which he incessantly sheds because of the unfortunate, unrequited love... If the Neretva symbolizes a person in love, then the murmur of its waters is his wail and moan which never cease, since a person in love must express his love with continuous cries of despair and pain” (Boškov, 216).

Ode to the Neretva

Nema sumnje u to da je ona izvor vode života.

Svaka čaša koju čovjek popije daje mu novi život.

(There is no doubt that it is the spring of the water of life.

Every glass that the man drinks gives him a new life.)

Uzimanje i najmanje količine daje mozgu takav ugođaj da ne zna da li je riječ o Kevseru ili o nečemu što je slično Selsebilu.

(Taking even the smallest quantity gives such a feeling to the brain that it does not know if it is the Kawthar or something similar to al-Salsabeel.)

Za ljudski organizam ona je ugodni, zdravi elksir.

Ne može joj biti ravan Lokmanov napitak.

(For human organism it is a pleasant, healthy elixir.

Not even Luqman's potion can be its equal.)

Sve u svemu, to je jedan iskusan ljekar za opštu korist.

Ko se jednom napije, taj otklanja vatru žeđi.

(All in all, it is an experienced physician for general benefit.

Who drinks it once, quenches the fire of thirst.)

Načičkane kuće gledaju na nepristupačnu Neretvu.

Stari i mladi (u tekstu: starci i mladići) uzimaju darove tvoje - neograničenog gospodara milosti.

(Dotted houses overlook the inaccessible Neretva.

The old and the young take gifts given by you  - the limitless master of mercy.)

Drveće, tu i tamo, na njenim obalama u redovima stoji kao u molitvi

Prostrijevši na livade svoj divni debeli hlad.

(The scattered trees on its banks stand in rows like in a prayer

Spreading their wonderful shade across meadows.)

Brzog je toka, ne stoji, poput zaljubljenog, ni danju ni noću.

Zadivljuje njena širina i dubina u poređenju sa Indijskim okeanom.

(It is rapid, it does not stand, like someone in love, either in the day or in night.

Its breadth and depth compared to the Indian Ocean astonishes.)

Pri (svakom) uzdahu prolijeva iz očiju, poput Džejhona (Amu Darje), ljubavnu bujicu.

Ni jednog trenutka se ne stišava i smiruje njen plač i jauk.

(Upon /every/ sigh it sheds, from its eyes, like the Jaihun /Amu Darya/, a love torrent.

Not for a moment its cries and moans do die out.)

Očevidno je njeno obilje (vodom); korito joj je oštro

Ne može je preći ni pješak ni konjanik.

(Its abundance /with water/ is obvious; its bed is sharp

Not a pedestrian nor a rider can cross it.)

(Boškov, 226)

Source:

• Boškov, Vančo, „Pjesnik Rahmi i njegova kasida o Mostaru“, POF, XXVI, Sarajevo, 1978, pp. 211-231.

• Omerika, Nusret, „Ovjekovječeni kameni luk: Stari most u poeziji mostarskih pjesnika koji su stvarali na orijentalnim jezicima“, Most: časopis za obrazovanje, nauku i kulturu, number 108-109 (19-20 – new series); year XXIV November/December 1998; (Most 108-109 (19-20) - casopis za obrazovanje, nauku i kulturu-Mostar-BiH-Nusret Omerika)